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Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Mon, 20 May 2013 12:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/introducing-yahoomblr http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/introducing-yahoomblr Paul Constant <p>On Monday, Yahoo is holding a press conference, <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/17/amidst-tumblr-acquisition-rumors-yahoo-to-hold-product-event-with-marissa-mayer-on-monday/">according to TechCrunch</a>. This comes after the company's recent buying spree, and it closely follows rumors that <strong>Yahoo is considering spending a billion dollars to buy Tumblr</strong>:</p> <blockquote><p>On Monday, it seems that we may get a better sense of what Yahoo plans to do with all these new acquisitions, as CNBC is reporting that Yahoo will be holding<strong> a &#8220;product-related&#8221; news event </strong>on Monday in New York City. <a href="http://time100.time.com/2013/04/18/time-100/slide/marissa-mayer/">Marissa Mayer </a>will reportedly be speaking at the press conference, but that&#8217;s all we know about the contents of the event at this point.</p></blockquote> <p>I do get the sense that Tumblr could be a bigger deal than it already is&#8212;it's about one-third of a social network and two-thirds of a blogging platform, which seems like a good position to be in&#8212;but I'm not sure that Yahoo is the company to bring it to its full potential. But new CEO Marissa Mayer has accomplished what seemed like the impossible a couple years ago: She's got people talking about Yahoo again.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/introducing-yahoomblr#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16793061&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/17/introducing-yahoomblr?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16793061&id=comments 13 Fri, 17 May 2013 13:21:14 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/thats-a-clown-social-networking-app-bro http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/thats-a-clown-social-networking-app-bro Dan Savage <p><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/16/184444451/twitter-users-risk-damnation-say-saudi-religious-police">NPR</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>"The head of Saudi Arabia's religious police has warned citizens against using Twitter, which is rising in popularity among Saudis," the BBC reports. "Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said anyone using social media sites&#8212;and especially Twitter&#8212;'has lost this world and his afterlife.' " International Digital Times notes that: "The news rather reminds us of the imam of the Grand Mosque who last April used his sermon&#8212;seen by millions on TV&#8212;to label Twitter as a threat to national unity. The kingdom's grand mufti (religious head) earlier at several occasions attacked Twitter users calling them 'fools' and 'clowns.'"</p></blockquote> <p>One Twitter user looks on the bright side...</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">@<a href="https://twitter.com/fakedansavage">fakedansavage</a> So when I die, I won't go to the same place as Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh? Shame, he seems like a really fun guy<br />&#8212; Alexander Colgan (@alexcolgan) <a href="https://twitter.com/alexcolgan/status/335025677810151425">May 16, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/thats-a-clown-social-networking-app-bro#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16782696&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Religion Tech Teh Internets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/thats-a-clown-social-networking-app-bro?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16782696&id=comments 26 Thu, 16 May 2013 06:51:17 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/slog-drone-vs-spd-drone http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/slog-drone-vs-spd-drone Eli Sanders <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3b8a/1368573253-screen_shot_2013-05-14_at_4.08.32_pm.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3b8a/1368573253-screen_shot_2013-05-14_at_4.08.32_pm.png" alt="A map submitted to the federal government showing the SPD drones proposed airspace and practice areas." title="A map submitted to the federal government showing the SPD drones proposed airspace and practice areas." width="250" height="246" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Seattle Police Department</li><li class="imageCaption">A map submitted to the federal government showing the SPD drone's proposed "training airspace." (Click to enlarge.)</li></ul></div><div>As mentioned yesterday, <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/slog-drone-vs-seattle-parks-department">the Seattle Parks Department does not allow drones in its airspace</a>. It also won't be granting the Slog drone a special permit to operate in some discreet section of some city park.</div></p> <p><div><strong>But guess who was planning to fly two drones in Seattle Parks without asking the parks department's permission?</strong></div></p> <p><div>Why, it's <a class="pdflink" href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/14/1368573714-pra_seattle_police__drones_27_jul_12.pdf" target="_self">the Seattle Police Department</a>.</div></p> <p><div>Back before Mayor Mike McGinn squashed the SPD's drone program in response to public outcry, the SPD applied for&#8212;and was granted&#8212;an FAA waiver to practice flying its two drones... in Magnuson and Discovery Parks.</div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2d0e/1368573894-screen_shot_2013-05-14_at_4.23.44_pm.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2d0e/1368573894-screen_shot_2013-05-14_at_4.23.44_pm.png" alt="Click to enlarge." title="Click to enlarge." width="500" height="227" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Click to enlarge.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div>Did the SPD ask the Parks Department's permission before (or after) if got the FAA's permission to treat two Seattle Parks as "training airspace" for its drones?</div></p> <p><div>Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter doesn't recall such a request. Neither does Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams. I've twice asked SPD spokesperson Sean Whitcomb whether such a request was ever made. He hasn't responded.</div></p> <p><div>All of which is to say: It seems a little unfair that the public should be prohibited from flying drones in Seattle Parks unless an "<a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/slog-drone-vs-seattle-parks-department">emerging public desire</a>" to fly them can be proved, while the SPD can just take its right to fly drones in our public parks for granted.</div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/slog-drone-vs-spd-drone#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16765330&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/slog-drone-vs-spd-drone?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16765330&id=comments 19 Slog Drone vs. SPD Drone A map submitted to the federal government showing the SPD drone's proposed airspace and practice areas. Seattle Police Department Wed, 15 May 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/slog-drone-vs-seattle-parks-department http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/slog-drone-vs-seattle-parks-department Eli Sanders <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2d87/1368488238-hover3.jpg" alt="Not allowed!" title="Not allowed!" width="500" height="123" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">P.C.</li><li class="imageCaption">Not allowed!</li></ul></div></p> <p>Well. It turns out the Slog drone and its kind are <strong>not allowed</strong> in Seattle's parks. So, while <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/15/did-i-violate-paul-constants-civil-rights-with-this-drone">I did not violate Paul Constant's civil rights</a> last month by <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant">spying on him</a> with the Slog drone in Volunteer Park, I did violate park rules. </p> <p>Specifically, Seattle Parks Department rule <a href="http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CODE&s1=18.12.265.snum.&Sect5=CODE&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/code1.htm&r=1&f=G">18.12.265</a>, which states:</p> <blockquote><p>It is unlawful to operate any motorized model aircraft or motorized model watercraft in any park except at places set apart by the Superintendent for such purposes or as authorized by a permit from the Superintendent.</p></blockquote> <p>At present, zero places have been set aside by the Superintendent for drone use. However, parks spokesperson Dewey Potter has kindly granted the Slog drone and its operator <strong>amnesty</strong> for the flights we took before we became aware of this situation. </p> <p>What about a special "permit from the Superintendent" that would allow the Slog drone to fly in some section of some city park in the future? After some back of forth over the possibility of such a permit, Jeff Hodges, of the department's Event Management Office, has said no. </p> <p>Writes Hodges:</p> <blockquote><p>We have authorized permits for new and currently prohibited activities in cases where it is clear there is an emerging public desire for the activity, or in cases where there is a special reason for approving an exception...</p> <p>After the review of your request, we feel it does not meet either of these criteria. <strong>I suggest that if you want to pursue it, you try to put together a group of other drone users</strong> and make a case for the need, or provide Parks with a compelling reason to approve an exception.</p></blockquote> <p>I wonder if this might count as evidence of "emerging public desire" to fly drones in Seattle parks:</p> <p><iframe width="540" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6qsAVCY4tTM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>At the very least, there appears to already be some public desire to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTPiab_j84g">buzz the Great Wheel</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub1Nohb8s20">fly over Lake Washington</a>.</p> <p>But apparently I need to be part of a group if I want the Parks Department to relax its drone rules.</p> <p>So, if you have a drone and want to be part of a group petitioning the Seattle Parks Department for space to fly drones legally, put "DRONES!" in the subject line and <a href="mailto:eli@thestranger.com">e-mail me</a>.</p> <p>Meanwhile, let's check in with the High Court of Slog.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/slog-drone-vs-seattle-parks-department#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16756807&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/14/slog-drone-vs-seattle-parks-department?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16756807&id=comments 27 Slog Drone vs. Seattle Parks Department Not allowed! E.S. Tue, 14 May 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/is-lifelogging-stupid http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/is-lifelogging-stupid Paul Constant <p>My Twitter was a-hootin' and a-hollerin' about the fact that there's <a href="http://www.getsaga.com/blog/introducing-the-new-saga-the-automatic-lifelogging-app-for-everyone/">a newly released lifecasting app called Saga</a>. Here's the description:</p> <blockquote><p>Saga records your real life story, as told by the places you visited, and what you did there, <strong>automatically</strong>.</p> <p>We make it easy and fun to look back on where you&#8217;ve been, what you&#8217;ve done, what you&#8217;ve said, and photos you&#8217;ve snapped, with little to no manual input required. Saga keeps up with your daily activities, automatically checking-in, and cataloging your travels in a beautiful lifelog....Saga is for the seekers, <strong>the quantified selfers</strong>, and life-adventurers, but at the end of the day, Saga is for everyone, including you. We believe everyone has a story worth telling, and today we&#8217;re making it incredibly easy to do.</p> <p>Saga also integrates with a variety of popular services you&#8217;re probably already using to enhance your lifelog even more. Saga doesn&#8217;t just record your travels, but also your photos, personal notes, status updates, workout data, and more. Connect Saga with apps like RunKeeper, BodyMedia, Fitbit, Withings and Tripit and watch your timeline flourish.</p></blockquote> <p>I understand the whole fitness tracking thing&#8212;I use a pedometer when I go out on long walks&#8212;but lifelogging feels to me like the ultimate I-don't-give-a-shit experience. Are people really going to go back through and relive every little thing they did for every day of their lives? Is anyone else (besides, you know, <strong>overreaching law enforcement officers</strong>) going to give a shit about your lifelog? And can your phone's battery support a tracking app that is always on in the background? It's entirely possible that this is just plain not for me&#8212;I've always considered Foursquare, for instance, to be way to trick people into becoming unpaid billboards for businesses and brands&#8212;and other people understand the appeal. What do you think, Slog?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/is-lifelogging-stupid#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16720644&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/is-lifelogging-stupid?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16720644&id=comments 22 Fri, 10 May 2013 07:51:32 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/amazon-is-reportedly-working-on-a-3d-smartphone http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/amazon-is-reportedly-working-on-a-3d-smartphone Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/9/4316124/amazon-building-smartphone-with-a-3d-screen-says-wsj">The Verge says</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>It's been long rumored that Amazon is working on a phone, but according to a new <em>Wall Street Journal</em> report, that phone<strong> may have a 3D display</strong>...Some sources have said users would be able to navigate through content with their eyes, and eye tracking could also improve the 3D effect, allowing the phone to tell where users are looking and refocus in response, rather than having a single "correct" viewing angle.</p></blockquote> <p>Anyone seen any 3D phones in the wild around South Lake Union? This seems like a weird way for Amazon to jump into the smartphone business, unless that 3D tech is really something transformative. Of course, this kind of reporting often has a touch of truth to it, in the form of prototypes being handed around that never get released to the public. But evidence is mounting that <strong>Amazon is going to come out with its own smartphone this year</strong>. Whether that smartphone has a 3D display or not is something we might not know until we see the thing in Jeff Bezos's hand at the launch press conference.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/amazon-is-reportedly-working-on-a-3d-smartphone#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16721033&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/amazon-is-reportedly-working-on-a-3d-smartphone?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16721033&id=comments 20 Thu, 09 May 2013 14:19:04 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/is-microsoft-looking-to-buy-into-the-e-book-business http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/is-microsoft-looking-to-buy-into-the-e-book-business Paul Constant <p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/08/microsoft-mulling-nook-media-llc-purchase-for-1-billion/">Last night, Eric Eldon and Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch </a>reported:</p> <blockquote><p>Microsoft is offering to pay<strong> $1 billion </strong>to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, the digital book and college book joint venture with Barnes &amp; Noble and other investors, according to internal documents we&#8217;ve obtained. In this plan, Microsoft would redeem preferred units in Nook Media, which also includes a college book division, leaving it with the digital operation &#8212; e-books, as well as Nook e-readers and tablets.</p> <p>The documents also reveal that Nook Media plans to discontinue its Android-based tablet business by the end of its 2014 fiscal year as it transitions to a model where Nook content is distributed through apps on &#8220;third-party partner&#8221; devices.</p></blockquote> <p>For a while now, Microsoft has been the only major tech player without its own e-book storefront. This looks like an attempt to buy into the market with an already-established brand. I'm not convinced that the Nook e-bookstore is worth a billion dollars, but this certainly would be the easiest way for Microsoft to play catch-up with Amazon, Apple, and Google.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/is-microsoft-looking-to-buy-into-the-e-book-business#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16715657&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech Books http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/is-microsoft-looking-to-buy-into-the-e-book-business?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16715657&id=comments 6 Thu, 09 May 2013 06:08:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/modern-times-dilemma-the-hobbit-is-stuck-in-my-dvd-player http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/modern-times-dilemma-the-hobbit-is-stuck-in-my-dvd-player Grant Brissey <p>So, over the weekend I rented <em>The Hobbit</em> from a Redbox. I thought is was pretty blah. All I'm saying is I hope that CGI technology improves a whole yardstick before the next installment comes out, because it blew on this one, and this one would have been approximately five minutes long if you cut out all the scenes involving the shitty CGI. WHY DON'T YOU JUST PUT A CGI BABY IN ANGELINA JOLIE'S ARMS?</p> <p>Anyhow, I bring this up because I have encountered a major modern-world/first-world problem. After beginning <em>The Hobbit</em> and then falling asleep, and then finishing it the next morning, I realized that my DVD player had decided to shit the tub. <Em>The Hobbit</Em> is stuck inside. Naturally, the only place I can turn for advice is the Collective Wisdom of Slog&#8482;. </p> <p>Thus:</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/modern-times-dilemma-the-hobbit-is-stuck-in-my-dvd-player#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16691587&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/07/modern-times-dilemma-the-hobbit-is-stuck-in-my-dvd-player?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16691587&id=comments 32 Tue, 07 May 2013 10:46:48 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/03/did-you-know-its-international-day-against-drm http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/03/did-you-know-its-international-day-against-drm Paul Constant <p>It's true! <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/dayagainstdrm">The official site for Day Against DRM</a> has <strong>a handy list of things you can do to celebrate</strong>, including sharing links, buying from companies that don't use DRM, and links to places where you can complain publicly about DRM. If you don't know why this is such a big deal, you should visit <a href="http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm">the anti-DRM FAQ</a>.</p> <p>(<a href="http://www.teleread.com/uncategorized/happy-international-day-against-drm/">Via Tele-Read</a>.)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/03/did-you-know-its-international-day-against-drm#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16664754&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/03/did-you-know-its-international-day-against-drm?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16664754&id=comments 8 Fri, 03 May 2013 14:28:23 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/your-eyes-are-not-google-glass http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/your-eyes-are-not-google-glass Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514136/your-body-does-not-want-to-be-an-interface/">In a great post at Technology Review last week</a>, John Pavlus explained that the future of technology like Google Glass&#8212;where instead of taking a picture by telling the glasses to take a picture, you simply wink&#8212;might get too close to the body for our comfort:</p> <blockquote><p>The assumption driving these kinds of design speculations is that if you embed the interface&#8211;the control surface for a technology&#8211;into our own bodily envelope, that interface will &#8220;disappear&#8221;: the technology will cease to be a separate &#8220;thing&#8221; and simply become part of that envelope. The trouble is that unlike technology, your body isn&#8217;t something you &#8220;interface&#8221; with in the first place. You&#8217;re not a little homunculus &#8220;in&#8221; your body, &#8220;driving&#8221; it around, looking out Terminator-style &#8220;through&#8221; your eyes. Your body isn&#8217;t a tool for delivering your experience:<strong> it is your experience</strong>. Merging the body with a technological control surface doesn&#8217;t magically transform the act of manipulating that surface into bodily experience. I&#8217;m not a cyborg (yet) so I can&#8217;t be sure, but I suspect the effect is more the opposite: alienating you from the direct bodily experiences you already have by turning them into technological interfaces to be manipulated. </p></blockquote> <p>The post is titled "Your Body Does Not Want to Be an Interface." Pavlus also quotes <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671960/why-the-human-body-will-be-the-next-computer-interface">this terrifying article from Co.Design</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Think about this scenario: You see someone at a party you like; his social profile is immediately projected onto your retina&#8211;great, a 92% match. By staring at him for two seconds, you trigger a pairing protocol. He knows you want to pair, because you are now glowing slightly red in his retina screen. Then you slide your tongue over your left incisor and press gently. This makes his left incisor tingle slightly. He responds by touching it. The pairing protocol is completed.</p></blockquote> <p>I honestly don't know which future is more likely: The one where we recoil from wearable computers as a kind of sensation-based uncanny valley, or the one where we embrace wearable computers because they make everything more convenient. It seems that our bodies can become used to all kinds of modifications, but it also seems that we might appreciate our powerful computers better when they're <strong>at arm's length</strong> from us.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/your-eyes-are-not-google-glass#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16623984&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/your-eyes-are-not-google-glass?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16623984&id=comments 27 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:59:20 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/wa-ag-bob-ferguson-orders-t-mobile-to-end-deceptive-no-contract-advertising http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/wa-ag-bob-ferguson-orders-t-mobile-to-end-deceptive-no-contract-advertising Goldy <p>When <strong>T-Mobile</strong> announced its new "uncarrier" plans, a lot of mobile phone industry observers shrugged. </p> <p>T-Mobile was eliminating the industry-standard two-year contract, but it was also <strong>eliminating the device subsidies</strong> to which US consumers have long grown accustomed. For example, an iPhone 5 that would cost you $199 with a 24-month commitment on AT&T or Verizon could now be had from T-Mobile for $579 with no contract. Or, T-Mobile would hand you the phone for a $99 downpayment plus $20 a month for 24 months&#8212;if you cancelled your service, you'd be responsible for a lump-sum payoff on the balance of your phone. </p> <p>The new T-Mobile plans typically came out to be about $20 a month or so cheaper than AT&T or Verizon, so it was kind of a wash, with the $20 monthly phone payment largely offsetting the typical savings on the new "uncarrier" plans. And the lump-sum payment due on canceling your service was functionally <strong>no different from early termination fees</strong> the other carriers still charge.</p> <p>That last detail apparently <a href="http://atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?&id=31166#.UXmgsZU1Ay4">escaped the attention of a lot of new T-Mobile customers</a>:</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson</strong> has ordered T-Mobile to correct deceptive advertising that promised consumers no annual contracts while carrying <strong>hidden charges for early termination</strong> of phone plans.</p> <p>Today, the Attorney General's Office filed a court order signed by T-Mobile and effective nationwide that will ensure the company clearly communicates the limitations of its new &#8220;no-contract&#8221; wireless service plans and allows customers duped by the deceptive ads to exit their contracts with no penalty.</p> <p>&#8220;As Attorney General, my job is to defend consumers, ensure truth in advertising, and make sure all businesses are playing by the rules,&#8221; Ferguson said. &#8220;My office identified that <strong>T-Mobile was failing to disclose a critical component of their new plan to consumers</strong>, and we acted quickly to stop this practice and protect consumers across the country from harm.&#8221;</p></blockquote> <p>T-Mobile has agreed to offer full refunds with no fee for canceling service to customers who purchased phones between March 26 and April 25. The company has also agreed to clarify its advertising so as not to deceive consumers about early termination, and to instruct its salespeople to properly inform customers. T-Mobile will also pay the state $26,046 in attorneys fees. <strong>And Ferguson makes an early mark as a pro-consumer attorney general.</strong></p> <p>All that said, there are some customers for whom T-Mobile's new plans offer significant savings: Those who routinely keep their phones for longer than two years, and those who prefer to buy unlocked phones. So while I'm with the AG that T-Mobile's claims were a bit deceptive, it's still nice to have T-Mobile's new plans as an option.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/wa-ag-bob-ferguson-orders-t-mobile-to-end-deceptive-no-contract-advertising#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16591427&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech Olympia http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/wa-ag-bob-ferguson-orders-t-mobile-to-end-deceptive-no-contract-advertising?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16591427&id=comments 15 Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:44:04 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/marriage-proposal-by-drone http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/marriage-proposal-by-drone Eli Sanders <p><iframe width="540" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ai2bwOuLGAQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><a href="http://gizmodo.com/5995352/this-guy-proposed-to-his-girlfriend-with-a-drone">Via Gizmodo</a>. The Slog done considers this to be a San Francisco people's problem.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/marriage-proposal-by-drone#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16586103&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/marriage-proposal-by-drone?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16586103&id=comments 6 Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/drone-protest-vs-slog-drone http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/drone-protest-vs-slog-drone Eli Sanders <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4db8/1366255452-drone1.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4db8/1366255452-drone1.png" alt="The view from the Slog drone" title="The view from the Slog drone." width="500" height="333" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">The view from the Slog drone. In the background, a sign reading: <strong>KILL DRONES NOT PEOPLE</strong></li></ul></div></p> <p>I took the Slog drone down to yesterday's anti-drone protest at Westlake Plaza, and to answer your first question: No, I didn't fly it. Just carried it around in a cloth shopping bag, showed it to a few people, took it out for a moment and let it see the stage.</p> <p>The first speaker was Peter Lumsdaine of the <a href="mailto:tierralinda@live.com">Alliance to Resist Robotic Warfare and Society</a>. (He asked that I link to the group's e-mail address as they don't have a web page yet.) "We need to look very, very carefully at this idea that there are good drones and bad drones," Lumsdaine warned. </p> <p>Lumsdaine sees drones ushering in a "new era of planetary history," perhaps "a <em>Terminator</em> future" in which drones will "autonomously enforce their own agendas and their own programming." </p> <p>He said this prospect, as well as the way the U.S. government is already using drones for overseas strikes, tell him that "we need to move from education to action, and we need to move from protest to resistance." </p> <p>If people don't start to push back against drones, Lumsdaine was saying, it may soon become too late to do anything. For inspiration, he cited the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite">Luddite Uprising</a>.</p> <p>Another speaker, <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2020415063_billdistleropedxml.html">Bill Ditsler</a>, referenced a statement President Obama made about the bombings in Boston. "Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians," Obama said, "it is an act of terrorism."</p> <p>Ditsler then said of Obama: "He must know he's talking about himself."</p> <p>After that, a young woman read a list of names of children she said were killed by Obama's overseas drone strikes. Others mentioned last week's <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/09/188062/obamas-drone-war-kills-others.html">McClatchy expose</a>. Lennon's "Imagine" was played. So was Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land."</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dd63/1366256062-drone3.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dd63/1366256062-drone3.jpg" alt="Jeanette Bugay, 64" title="Jeanette Bugay, 64" width="200" height="267" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">E.S.</li><li class="imageCaption">Jeanette Bugay, 64</li></ul></div><div>I showed the Slog drone to protester Jeanette Bugay, 64, and she said: "They don't seem that dangerous."</div></p> <p><div>There are lots of different types of drones, I told her. This one is about as far from a Predator as you can get. "It does look like a toy," Bugay said. "Something children could play with." Still, she told me, "You have to be careful with them."</div></p> <p><div>I <a href="http://the-magazine.org/13/ground-control-part-1">wouldn't</a> disagree.</div></p> <p><div>It did seem to me, however, that the anti-drone language at this protest was a little too sweeping. There are a lot of <a href="http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/examples-of-non-military-non-police-use-of-drones-please-add-your">non-scary, and potentially very helpful uses</a> of drone technology. And even Bugay, when she got to thinking about it, brought up a military use for drones that she would have approved: "A drone to come after Hitler."</div></p> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/17/1366256391-drone4.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/17/thumb-1366256391-drone4.jpg" alt="Dorli Rainey" title="Dorli Rainey" width="200" height="267" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">E.S.</li><li class="imageCaption">Dorli Rainey</li></ul></div><div>Dorli Rainey, well known for her <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/11/15/dorli-rainey-84-pepper-sprayed-by-spd-at-occupy-seattle-protest">front-line role</a> in the Occupy protests, took a less flexible stance. She told the crowd: "Drones are now worse than atomic bombs, because they can go anywhere they like."</div></p> <p><div>Rainey also expressed doubt that the Seattle Police Department is done trying to use drones in this city, and she warned of the day when "drones will evolve into little tiny things that can go through small openings." Like your mouth, she suggested. She worried, too, that in the future babies will be implanted with GPS trackers.</div></p> <p><div>As the group of about 50 marched around downtown during rush hour, past a Boeing office they said had a role in drone building, they chanted: <em>What do we want? No more drones! When do we want it? Now!</em></div></p> <p><div>Also: <em>Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Killer drones have got to go!</em></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dce6/1366256198-drone5.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/dce6/1366256198-drone5.jpg" alt="Forrest Taylor, 16" title="Forrest Taylor, 16" width="200" height="267" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">E.S.</li><li class="imageCaption">Forrest Taylor, 16</li></ul></div><div>The second chant seemed better than the first in the precision-targeting department. Because, as protester Forrest Taylor told me, not everyone at the march was ready to get rid of all drones.</div></p> <p><div>Taylor himself was holding a sign that read "NO DRONES," yet he was very excited to see the Slog drone&#8212;said he had seen one like it online and thought it was cool. "The sign is obviously oversimplified," he told me. "We don't want the missile part of drones. But I don't believe any technology is harmful in and of itself, unless it's used as force against people."</div></p> <p><div>Taylor is 16 years old, and currently studying at the University of Washington as part of an accelerated learning program, and he said he didn't think much of the Luddite references from the earlier speaker.</div></p> <p><div>Would Taylor like to own a drone just like the Slog drone? "Actually, yeah, I would, absolutely," he said. "There are lots of things it could be really useful for&#8212;photography, mapping. I'm very interested in technology. It just depends on what the technology is used for and who's using it."</div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/17/1366256497-drone2.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/17/thumb-1366256497-drone2.jpg" alt="Marching down Fourth Avenue" title="Marching down Fourth Avenue" width="500" height="375" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">E.S.</li><li class="imageCaption">Marching down Fourth Avenue</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/drone-protest-vs-slog-drone#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16523305&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Politics Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/drone-protest-vs-slog-drone?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16523305&id=comments 12 Drone Protest vs. Slog Drone The view from the Slog drone. Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/15/did-i-violate-paul-constants-civil-rights-with-this-drone http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/15/did-i-violate-paul-constants-civil-rights-with-this-drone Eli Sanders <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a72c/1365992709-hover3.jpg" alt="The drone that watched Paul." title="The drone that watched Paul." width="500" height="123" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">PBC</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>The other day, I used the Slog drone to <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant">spy on Paul Constant</a> while he was reading in Volunteer Park.</p> <p>Afterward, Mr. Constant took the matter to the high court of Twitter and <a href="https://twitter.com/paulconstant/status/321305569237553152">declared</a>:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My civil rights have been violated. RT"@<a href="https://twitter.com/elijsanders">elijsanders</a> Slog drone vs. @<a href="https://twitter.com/paulconstant">paulconstant</a>: <a href="http://t.co/uNViURtlzf" title="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant">slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/&#8230;</a> "<br />&#8212; Paul Constant (@paulconstant) <a href="https://twitter.com/paulconstant/status/321305569237553152">April 8, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p> <p>Mr. Constant said later that he meant his "civil liberties." Either way, a ruling seemed necessary.</p> <p>So, I took the case of <em>Slog drone vs. Paul Constant</em> to <strong>an expert on robotics and the law, the Seattle City Attorney's Office, and the local ACLU</strong>. None of them could come up with a specific law that I'd broken by using this off-the-shelf <a href="http://ardrone2.parrot.com/usa/">Parrot AR.Drone</a> to read over Mr. Constant's shoulder in a public park. </p> <p>If you're concerned about where personal drone technology is going, you should take a moment to hear why.</p> <p>I began with the expert on robotics and the law, <a href="http://www.law.washington.edu/directory/Profile.aspx?ID=713">Ryan Calo</a>, who used to be with the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and is now at the University of Washington.</p> <p>"In general," Calo told me, "one does not enjoy an expectation of privacy in public that society is prepared to accept as reasonable. But, there are limits. So-called 'up skirt' laws, for instance, prohibit certain deeply offensive photography in public." </p> <p><a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant">The record in this case will reflect</a>, however, that I did not use the drone to look up Mr. Constant's skirt. And, Calo adds: "I would note that Paul's civil rights were probably not implicated as you are not a government actor." </p> <p>This was private drone vs. private citizen action. </p> <p>And the legality of such private drone vs. private citizen action, Calo said, "would vary by jurisdiction." </p> <p>Which led me next to the people who handle this jurisdiction.</p> <p>"The <a href="http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.73&full=true">Washington Privacy Act</a> restricts audio recording of certain conversations without consent of everyone involved," said John Schochet, spokesman for the Seattle City Attorney's office.</p> <p>That's interesting, but this drone doesn't record audio. Just video. Of Paul. From above. While he's reading.</p> <p>"I&#8217;m not aware of any Seattle law that would prohibit taking still photographs or silent video of someone in a public place," Schochet told me.*</p> <p>Next, I got in touch with the Seattle office of the ACLU.</p> <p>When it comes to drones operated by private individuals, spokesman Doug Honig told me, "there is no specific law that regulates how personal drones may be used in public&#8212;excepting Washington&#8217;s 'two-party consent' law [aka the above-mentioned Privacy Act], which means they cannot record audio without someone&#8217;s permission. There are, however, laws which limit the ability of people to invade the privacy of others in public places&#8212;anti-stalking laws, laws on voyeurism, etc.&#8212;and individuals who believe their privacy has been invaded by private use of drones could bring civil tort actions."</p> <p>Honig and the ACLU, like many others, have lately been more focused on potential government uses of drones. That's because, as he told me:</p> <blockquote><p>Government entities have far greater powers than private individuals, and without strong regulations, there is the clear potential for government misuse of drones in ways that would harm people. The ACLU was very disappointed that legislation to provide reasonable regulations for government use of drones statewide, which had strong bipartisan support, did not pass in Olympia <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/boeing-drone-bill_n_2877452.html">due to opposition by Boeing</a>. We will continue to push for legislation next session in Olympia.</p></blockquote> <p>Still, it doesn't take much imagination to see that as more people get their hands on personal drones, these personal drones are going to become as big an issue as government drones. Personal drones, Honig said, "provide greater abilities to invade privacy than has traditionally been available to photographers, and we would welcome the evolution of case law on torts to apply to uses of drones. We&#8217;ll be watching this issue closely."</p> <p><small>*Schochet did suggest I check to see whether the Seattle Parks Department has any rules about personal drone use. I haven't heard back on that one yet.</small></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/15/did-i-violate-paul-constants-civil-rights-with-this-drone#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16497344&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Life Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/15/did-i-violate-paul-constants-civil-rights-with-this-drone?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16497344&id=comments 10 Did I Violate Paul Constant's Civil Rights With This Drone? The drone that watched Paul. PBC Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/have-e-books-hit-a-ceiling http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/have-e-books-hit-a-ceiling Paul Constant <p>In the US, e-book sales made up <strong>22.55 percent</strong> of book sales in 2012, but <a href="http://paidcontent.org/2013/04/11/ebooks-made-up-23-percent-of-us-publisher-sales-in-2012-says-the-aap/">Paid Content says</a> that those numbers appear to be plateauing. At the very least, the days of huge increases in e-book adopters seem to be over. But what do you think?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/have-e-books-hit-a-ceiling#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16482471&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech Books http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/have-e-books-hit-a-ceiling?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16482471&id=comments 12 Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:02:29 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/bad-news-for-microsoft http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/bad-news-for-microsoft Paul Constant <p>You don't want to see <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_PC_SALES?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT">headlines like this one</a>, from the AP:</p> <blockquote><p><strong>Research firm: PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops</strong></p></blockquote> <p>Apparently, PC shipments <strong>fell some fourteen percent </strong>in the first quarter of this year, which is the steepest they have ever dropped. The AP's Peter Svenssen analyzes the data like this: "Microsoft's Windows 8 software appears to be <strong>driving buyers away from PCs</strong> and toward smartphones and tablets..." Let's hope, for the good of the local economy, that Microsoft has something great up their sleeves.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/bad-news-for-microsoft#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16464182&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/bad-news-for-microsoft?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16464182&id=comments 41 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:21:06 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/will-microsofts-next-xbox-eat-your-tv http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/will-microsofts-next-xbox-eat-your-tv Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/10/4208970/next-xbox-tv-entertainment-plans">The Verge just published</a> a great scoop about Microsoft's next Xbox plans:</p> <blockquote><p>Microsoft is investing in TV in a big way with its next Xbox console as part of a fight for the living room. Multiple sources familiar with the company's Xbox plans have revealed to The Verge that Microsoft will introduce a feature that lets its next-generation console <strong>take over a TV and set-top box</strong> in a similar way to Google TV. We understand that the next Xbox will require an online connection to use the entertainment services, allowing them to be always-on for streaming and access to TV signals.</p></blockquote> <p>If it's true, this is a <strong>pretty ballsy move</strong> on Microsoft's part. Tech companies have been trying to find ways into consumers' television sets for years now, but none of the more grandiose plans, like Google TV, have yet succeeded. Unless there's an easy way to opt out of this television OS, I'm imagining that some consumers might opt out of the Xbox entirely. And then there's the fact that the <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/150598-drm-deceit-simcity-doesnt-need-to-be-always-online-says-maxis-developer">recent Sim City debacle </a>has proven that consumers aren't happy about products that require them to be online to play games. Meanwhile, other buyers will be pissed to discover that you still need a cable subscriptions to watch cable TV; the most giddy tech TV ideas&#8212;like Apple's much-speculated-about-but-never-materialized iTV, or <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/18/3992038/why-intel-media-could-finally-crack-internet-tv">Intel's upcoming project</a>&#8212;involve cable replacements. It'll be interesting to <strong>see how this thing lands</strong>; it'll either be a crazy success or a crazy failure.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/will-microsofts-next-xbox-eat-your-tv#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16462624&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> TV Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/10/will-microsofts-next-xbox-eat-your-tv?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16462624&id=comments 32 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:29:50 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/dude-you-totally-mindhacked-my-passthought http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/dude-you-totally-mindhacked-my-passthought Grant Brissey <p>Because I am a completely unreasonable person, I'm constantly cursing at my computer for not knowing which application I want to be typing on. Or that it doesn't know that I want it to switch to whatever program I hover my cursor over when, say, I've got two monitors and I'm switching back and forth between multiple applications. Or that it can't just <strong>read my mind and then do all my work for me</strong>. Thanks to these hyper-nerds at Berkeley, computers are like three-quarters of one step closer to <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/no-more-typed-passwords-berkeley-researchers-develop-passthoughts/">facilitating that stuff</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>&#8220;Instead of typing your password, in the future you may only have to think your password,&#8221; explains a UC Berkeley School of Information press release about new research that utilizes brainwaves to authenticate users instead of passwords of numbers and letters. With a $100 consumer-friendly brainwave-reading headset, the Neurosky MindSet, Professor John Chuang found that the mere task of concentrating on one&#8217;s breath was enough to uniquely identify them.</p></blockquote> <p>Brainwave devices, or Electroencephalograms, are not at all a new technology, although this application is obviously in early development. TechCrunch, who also points out that these systems are <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/27/brain-hacking-scientists-extract-personal-secrets-with-commercial-hardware/">not immune to hacking</a>, has <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/no-more-typed-passwords-berkeley-researchers-develop-passthoughts/">this video</a> that demonstrates a totally practical use: <a href="http://en.necomimi.com/">the Necomimi</a>, which, according to the marketing guy in the video, means "cat ears" in Japanese. It's, like, <em>the future</em>, man. Only with furries.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/dude-you-totally-mindhacked-my-passthought#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16447650&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/dude-you-totally-mindhacked-my-passthought?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16447650&id=comments 9 Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:10:16 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant Eli Sanders <p><iframe width="540" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WYay2O6CP8k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/a-few-good-reasons-not-to-fear-personal-drones-for-now#comment-16416379">As mentioned</a>, the Slog drone recently spotted <em>Stranger</em> books editor Paul Constant as he was reading in the park. </p> <p>Some have been <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/a-few-good-reasons-not-to-fear-personal-drones-for-now#comment-16416379">wondering</a> what recreational uses this drone might be put to aside from going up and coming back down, and here is one: It can <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/07/1365392688-hover2.jpg">hover on over</a> to Paul, flip from its nose camera to its bottom-mounted camera, and then <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/07/1365392754-hover.jpg">peer down</a> at Paul's filthy, filthy reading material.</p> <p><strong>What should the Slog drone do next?</strong></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16442837&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Life Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/slog-drone-vs-paul-constant?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16442837&id=comments 11 Slog Drone vs. Paul Constant Mon, 08 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/its-like-having-a-best-friend-who-never-shuts-up http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/its-like-having-a-best-friend-who-never-shuts-up Paul Constant <p>At the time of this writing, <strong>exactly none </strong>of the nearly 400 Slog readers who participated in <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/what-do-you-think-of-the-facebook-phone">the Slog poll about the Facebook phone</a> voted for the "Looking forward to it!" option. I've never seen anything like that in the long history of Slog polls. Maybe that's because everyone was thinking of the problems a Facebook-centric phone could present. Here's a video by Dartanion London that beautifully explains some of those problems:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xcUUuXj28L8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/its-like-having-a-best-friend-who-never-shuts-up#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16420612&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/its-like-having-a-best-friend-who-never-shuts-up?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16420612&id=comments 7 Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:07:17 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/what-do-you-think-of-the-facebook-phone http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/what-do-you-think-of-the-facebook-phone Paul Constant <p>There has been speculation for years about Facebook building its own phone, and at a press conference today, those rumors were proved to be kind of true: <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4182302/htc-and-facebook-announce-the-first-smartphone">The First, a Facebook-centric phone</a>, will soon be available from AT&T. But that wasn't the main reason Facebook was hosting the press conference: They were announcing Facebook Home, a suite of apps that will basically <strong>remake any Android phone into a Facebook-branded phone</strong>. <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4183172/facebook-home-android">David Pierce at The Verge explains</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Home is a family of Facebook apps that overhauls your entire device, turning it into a Facebook phone. An app called Coverfeed overhauls the homescreen and the lockscreen, giving you updates on what your friends are doing without you having to launch an app, or even unlock your phone. You can comment or like posts from your homescreen &#8212; it feels incredibly native. Everything is full-screen and incredibly visual, really looking nothing like Android...There are badges and notifications on every app that let you know when something new is happening, when someone is communicating with you. Notifications are sorted by friend, rather than app &#8212; it says when your friend is doing something, rather than letting you know that an app has something new for you. Instead of navigating through a list of apps, opening Photos to see photos and Calendar to see your events, <strong>Facebook wants to make your phone a lot more like your News Feed</strong>.</p></blockquote> <p>There's also a new chat feature that makes the phone more messaging-friendly. If you own an Android phone, <strong>your Facebook app will prompt you</strong> when Facebook Home is ready to be downloaded. <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4183172/facebook-home-android">Go read the full report at The Verge for all the details</a>. And so?</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/what-do-you-think-of-the-facebook-phone#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16417433&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/what-do-you-think-of-the-facebook-phone?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16417433&id=comments 25 Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:08:16 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/a-few-good-reasons-not-to-fear-personal-drones-for-now http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/a-few-good-reasons-not-to-fear-personal-drones-for-now Eli Sanders <p>The Slog drone may have stared down a Seattle Police Department waterfront spy camera last Friday, but commenter <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/mission-1-slog-drone-vs-spd-spy-cam#comment-16389435">Greycat</a> is unimpressed with <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/mission-1-slog-drone-vs-spd-spy-cam">video of the encounter</a>:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/b910/1365039912-screen_shot_2013-04-03_at_6.43.54_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-04-03_at_6.43.54_PM.png" title="" width="500" height="75" /></div></p> <p>It's a very good point. (And one that I tried to make <a href="http://the-magazine.org/13/ground-control-part-1">here</a>.) The abilities of today's personal drones are actually quite calming when you see them displayed, in the sense that they're so far from our worst fears. </p> <p>The <a href="http://ardrone2.parrot.com/usa/">Parrot AR.Drone</a>, for example, is easily pushed around by light breezes. That's one reason I kept the Slog drone&#8212;a Parrot&#8212;well away from the SPD waterfront camera and nearby power lines, and instead just sent the thing up above an empty patch of grass, turned it to look at the SPD camera from a distance, and then set it back down. (It's also a reason that <a href="https://twitter.com/drones/status/318452536866635776">the promise of newspaper delivery</a> via Parrot is <a href="https://twitter.com/NidhiSubs/status/318812109888700416">a joke</a>, for now.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3d5f/1365051062-screen_shot_2013-04-03_at_3.25.39_pm.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3d5f/1365051062-screen_shot_2013-04-03_at_3.25.39_pm.png" alt="Specs from the SPDs cancelled drone program." title="Specs from the SPDs cancelled drone program." width="200" height="175" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Specs from the SPD's cancelled drone program. (Click to enlarge.)</li></ul></div><div>The <a href="http://www.draganfly.com/uav-helicopter/draganflyer-x6/">Draganflyer X6</a> drones that the SPD wanted to use had similar limitations, by the way.</div></p> <p><div><a class="pdflink" href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/03/1365051280-pra_seattle_police__drones_27_jul_12.pdf" target="_blank">Documents made public</a> during the controversy over the now-cancelled police drone program show that the SPD's Draganflyers wouldn't have been able to handle winds over 18 miles per hour. I was also told they couldn't be flown in strong rain. Which means a lot of Seattle days would have been no-fly days for those much-feared SPD drones.</div></p> <p><div>If these machines can't even handle regular Seattle weather, and have to wait for a windless and sunny day in order to be in top form, why worry about them?</div></p> <p><div>Because of their potential. These weather-related problems and many others&#8212;including the drones' short battery life&#8212;are likely to be solved relatively quickly. When that happens, if we haven't thought seriously about where we do and don't want to encounter personal drones, and what they should and should not be allowed to do, then we'll be unhappy people.</div></p> <p><div>As it already stands, even with its limitations the Slog drone is <strong>capable of creeping up on Paul Constant.</strong> (Video proof coming on Monday morning.) Plus, this:</div></p> <p><iframe width="540" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kE4Fi4h9eMM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><div>You've been warned.</div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/a-few-good-reasons-not-to-fear-personal-drones-for-now#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16413588&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Life Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/a-few-good-reasons-not-to-fear-personal-drones-for-now?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16413588&id=comments 17 A Few Good Reasons Not to Fear Personal Drones (For Now) Thu, 04 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/mission-1-slog-drone-vs-spd-spy-cam http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/mission-1-slog-drone-vs-spd-spy-cam Eli Sanders <p><iframe width="540" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7IR3_JlyCGc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>On Friday morning, I asked: <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/29/what-should-i-do-with-this-drone-someone-bought-me">What should I do with this drone someone bought me?</a></p> <p>A ton of great ideas came in, and one stood right out:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/cf47/1364787458-screen_shot_2013-03-31_at_8.36.45_pm.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-03-31_at_8.36.45_PM.png" title="" width="500" height="112" /></div></p> <p><a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/29/what-should-i-do-with-this-drone-someone-bought-me#comment-16371776">GlibReaper</a>, I assumed, was talking about the Seattle Police Department's proposed <a href="http://crosscut.com/2013/03/13/technology/113416/crosscut-investigates-questions-SPD-surveillance/">waterfront camera network</a>, funded by the Department of Homeland Security and presently on hold following public backlash.</p> <p>So on Friday afternoon&#8212;which was beautiful, just like the weekend that followed&#8212;I headed out to Alki with the Slog drone and set up on a grassy knoll near one of the new waterfront cameras. </p> <p>What was so perfect about GlibReaper's proposed mission was that it stood to demonstrate just how easy it has become to play the hovering camera eye game back against someone who is playing it against you. (As well as how uneventful it can be to watch one mechanical eye stare at another mechanical eye.)</p> <p>The SPD's waterfront cameras are not turned on at the moment because they're under review, which meant the Slog drone didn't have to waste a lot of energy proving its supremacy. It lifted off from the knoll and headed up to power line height. Then it turned to look at the sad little SPD spy camera sitting there on a telephone poll doing nothing, and yawned. A police car rolled by on Alki Avenue.</p> <p>The Slog drone declined to fly closer, into what appeared to be a Bermuda Triangle of power lines and intersecting streets. Instead it just stayed there above the empty knoll for a few seconds, pondering the exhausting amounts of visual data the SPD wants to collect about mundane afternoon moments like the ones that were passing before its eye. Then, a little exhausted itself, the Slog drone set down and examined the knoll grass.</p> <p><strong>What should the Slog drone spy on next?</strong></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/mission-1-slog-drone-vs-spd-spy-cam#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16387851&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/mission-1-slog-drone-vs-spd-spy-cam?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16387851&id=comments 15 Slog Drone vs. SPD Spy Cam Mon, 01 Apr 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/eli-sanders-wants-to-talk-to-you-about-drones http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/eli-sanders-wants-to-talk-to-you-about-drones Paul Constant <p>Have you heard of <a href="http://the-magazine.org/"><em>The Magazine</em></a>? It's a digital magazine that provides ten longish articles a month to subscribers. This month's issue features a long piece by Eli Sanders called "<a href="http://the-magazine.org/13/ground-control-part-1">Ground Control</a>."</p> <p>Topics discussed in the article include:</p> <p>&#8226; A trip to the "granddaddy of all drone-building competitions" in North Dakota.</p> <p>&#8226; The fact that &#8220;You have to acknowledge in this day and age that stuff flies over your house.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8226; Futuristic shooting sprees.</p> <p>&#8226; A "university skybridge paid for by a potato farming magnate."</p> <p>&#8226; What it is like to pilot a domestic drone. (Spoiler: It's fun.)</p> <p>&#8226; The passionate argument against Seattle Police Department's drones, including the possibility that drones might record citizens &#8220;while [they're] naked, barbecuing!&#8221;</p> <p>&#8226; <em>The Terminator</em>.</p> <p>You should <a href="http://the-magazine.org/13/ground-control-part-1">give <em>The Magazine</em> a try</a>, and read Eli's thoughtful and funny article. I guarantee you'll come away with <strong>a ton of new information</strong> about a technology that is fundamentally reshaping our ideas of privacy and safety.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/eli-sanders-wants-to-talk-to-you-about-drones#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16365312&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/eli-sanders-wants-to-talk-to-you-about-drones?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16365312&id=comments 4 Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:29:44 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/reinforce-your-passwords-people http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/reinforce-your-passwords-people Paul Constant <p>Nate Anderson set out to crack a single password in less than one day's work. By the end of that day, he had <strong>cracked 8,000 passwords</strong>. You should <a href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/03/how-i-became-a-password-cracker/">read his full report at Ars Technica</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/reinforce-your-passwords-people#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16345828&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/reinforce-your-passwords-people?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16345828&id=comments 20 Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:15:33 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/t-mobile-ditches-phone-contracts-altogether http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/t-mobile-ditches-phone-contracts-altogether Grant Brissey <p>T-Mobile has been struggling at the bottom of the Big Four cell phone companies for a while now. The company <a href="http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20130325&id=16275424>1=33009">is planning the big announcement</a> for today, and, in conjunction with the fact that they'll now be selling the iPhone, it could prove an interesting move. I'm not familiar with their quality of coverage, although I've not heard good things. Depending on the specifics of your phone situation, this could be a good choice. Or maybe I just like to root for the underdog.</p> <blockquote><p>For instance, someone who wants a Samsung Galaxy S III would pay $70 upfront and then $90 per month for unlimited calling, text and data. That monthly fee includes $20 to pay off the cost of the phone over two years.</p> <p>By separating the cost of the phone from the service, T-Mobile is making its plans and upgrade options easier to understand. When the phone is paid off, the $20 fee in that example disappears. </p> <p>T-Mobile is selling data per line in three tiers. The talk and text portion of the plan comes with 500 megabytes of data usage per month. Adding $10 bumps that to 2 gigabytes per month, while adding $20 provides unlimited data.</p></blockquote> <p>They've got the deals laid out pretty nicely <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com">on their site</a>. It seems like it'd be pretty easy to give them a try without that sometimes hefty initial investment. And really, you're still on the hook for the phone, so you're still <em>sort of</em> on a contract, only you can pay it off and bail if you can't stand the service.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/t-mobile-ditches-phone-contracts-altogether#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16340533&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech Money http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/t-mobile-ditches-phone-contracts-altogether?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16340533&id=comments 31 Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:52:39 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/the-most-ridiculous-useless-kitchen-gadget-ever-invented http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/the-most-ridiculous-useless-kitchen-gadget-ever-invented Megan Seling <p>The latest gadget to prey on the myth that cooking an egg is complicated is the Rollie&#174; Eggmaster, a cylindrical cooking device that cooks your egg onto a stick and then POPS UP WHEN IT'S FINISHED.</p> <p><a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/03/20/pop-up-egg-on-a-stick-cooking.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29">Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing sums</a> it up: "...there is something weirdly compelling about a device that appears to get a boner while it cooks for you." </p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1XILbEZlS0U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Gross.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/the-most-ridiculous-useless-kitchen-gadget-ever-invented#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16303652&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Chow Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/the-most-ridiculous-useless-kitchen-gadget-ever-invented?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16303652&id=comments 25 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:12:32 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/13/newspapers-are-good-for-one-thing-at-least http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/13/newspapers-are-good-for-one-thing-at-least Paul Constant <p>Slog tipper <strong>Greg</strong> sent along this ad. It's definitely cute...</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RRDSj62tlvQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>...but I'm not entirely sure print media should <strong>embrace a toilet paper ad</strong> as a convincing argument that their industry is absolutely necessary.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/13/newspapers-are-good-for-one-thing-at-least#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16239517&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/13/newspapers-are-good-for-one-thing-at-least?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16239517&id=comments 9 Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:34:02 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/your-cell-phone-taxes-are-higher-and-lower-than-you-think http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/your-cell-phone-taxes-are-higher-and-lower-than-you-think Goldy <p>I'm fairly competent at math, but I was initially baffled when I recently sat down to figure out <strong>the taxes and "fees" on my monthly wireless bill.</strong></p> <p>I'd received an email from an angry reader complaining about Washington's "second-highest in the nation" wireless taxes, and pointing me to a website that claimed we pay an astronomical <a href="http://www.mywireless.org/state-issues/washington/">24.44 percent rate</a>. That does sound high. But it didn't add up. A quick look at my latest AT&T bill showed that I paid $10.98 in taxes, surcharges, and fees on $74.29 in voice, data, and text charges. That comes to about 14.8 percent. Not inconsequential, but nothing like what the angry emailer claimed.</p> <p>But for the life of me, I just couldn't get the numbers to add up, nor could I find useful online documentation. Finally, after a fair bit of algebra and some back and forth with the Department of Revenue, I think I've finally sussed it out, at least to within a penny or two. And it turns out that these various "taxes" aren't always what they first appear.</p> <p>As a point of reference here's how my monthly AT&T Wireless bill breaks down (the tax and fee rates are not included on the bill; I had to figure that part out for myself):</p> <p><table><tr><td><strong>Monthly Charges:</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Nation 450 with Rollover</td><td>$39.99</td></tr><tr><td>Data Unlimited for iPhone 4S</td><td>$30.00</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Total Monthly Charges:</strong></td><td><strong>$69.99</strong></td></tr><tr><td> </br></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><strong>SMS/MMS usage:</strong></td><td><strong>$4.30</strong></td></tr><tr><td> </br></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Surcharges and Other Fees</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>City Utility Users Surcharge (6%)*</td><td>$2.96</td></tr><tr><td>Federal Universal Service Charge (per line)</td><td>$1.97</td></tr><tr><td>Regulatory Cost Recovery Charge (per line)</td><td>$0.49</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Total Surcharges and Other Fees</strong></td><td><strong>$5.42</strong></td></tr><tr><td> </br></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Government Fees and Taxes</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>COUNTY 911 SERVICE FEE (per line)</td><td>$0.70</td></tr><tr><td>City District Sales Tax - Telecom (0.9%)</td><td>$0.41</td></tr><tr><td>City Sales Tax - Telecom (2.1%)</td><td>$0.98</td></tr><tr><td>State 911 Service Fee (per line)</td><td>$0.25</td></tr><tr><td>WA State Sales Tax - Telecom (6.5%)</td><td>$3.22</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Total Government Fees and Taxes</strong></td><td><strong>$5.56</strong></td></tr></table></p> <p>At a glance, the first thing that might strike you is that the tax rates seem off; you don't need to do the math to see that a WA State Sales Tax of $3.22 is way too low to be 6.5 percent of my total charges. Because it's not. Turns out, <strong>federal law exempts data charges from state and local taxes</strong>, so that part of the bill is entirely untaxed. But $3.22 is also too high to be 6.5 percent of my voice and text message charges. In fact, the state sales tax is levied on the voice and message charges, <em>plus</em> the $5.42 of total "surcharges and other fees."</p> <p>And that's the most important revelation about your wireless bill: <strong>About half the "taxes" on your bill aren't taxes at all.</strong> These are fees and surcharges the government <em>allows</em> the wireless companies to charge, but does not mandate or collect. It's not that these surcharges don't necessarily reflect actual regulatory costs (they might), but it would be kind of like McDonalds adding a separate line item to your bill to reflect the cost of their B&O tax, instead of just working that into the price of the burger.</p> <p>So since these surcharges and fees add to AT&T's bottom line in the exact same way as they would if they were just transparently worked into the listed price of the service (you know, like prepaid wireless plans do), the state charges sales tax on them. Fair enough. And not all that unintuitive once you understand what these charges represent.</p> <p>Oddly enough, the 2.1 percent City Sales Tax and 0.9 percent City District Sales Tax (Sound Transit?) are calculated a little differently, being levied on all the same charges as the state sales tax except the so-called City Utility Users Surcharge fee. Weird. But even weirder is the 6 percent City Utility Users Surcharge fee itself, which is levied on the exact same base as the state sales tax, including the City Utility Users Surcharge. That's right: In a weird bit of recursive math, this <strong>surcharge is levied on itself!</strong> So the true rate is closer to 6.383 percent. I think.</p> <p>The remaining taxes are per line charges to support state and local enhanced 911 services. As long as the legislature doesn't raid the fund, it's hard to complain about that.</p> <p>So, are the state and local taxes on my wireless bill high? Well, my total taxes and fees as a percentage of my non-data service come to 24.8 percent. That's high. But my actual state and local taxes&#8212;$5.56&#8212;amount to less than 7 percent of my total non-tax bill. I can live with that. And I'm guessing everybody else can too.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/your-cell-phone-taxes-are-higher-and-lower-than-you-think#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16179427&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Tech Money Olympia http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/your-cell-phone-taxes-are-higher-and-lower-than-you-think?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16179427&id=comments 27 Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:11:54 -0800 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/mercer-island-to-distribute-ipads-to-all-high-schoolers http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/mercer-island-to-distribute-ipads-to-all-high-schoolers Goldy <p>The Mercer Island School District will kick off its <a href="http://www.mercerislandschools.org/ipads">"One to One" iPad initiative</a> next month by distributing free iPads to all 10th and 11th graders. The iPads will be used by students for the remainder of the year, returned for the summer, and then redistributed in September.</p> <p>Say what you want about the economic disparity that allows districts like Mercer Island to hand out iPads while other districts struggle to pay for more basic needs, but I'm guessing that this technology will be the norm in schools, not the exception, by the end of the decade. The advantages over traditional textbooks are too obvious and numerous to list. This is the future.</p> <p>But there's one huge advantage that might not be so obvious about this inevitable shift away from print and toward digital: <strong>It breaks the power of the Texas Board of Education</strong> to dictate what is and is not in our nation's textbooks. Because Texas is one of the largest buyers of textbooks in the English-speaking world, publishers would tailor their texts to the state's demands, making textbook approval a highly politicized process in the conservative state. And the economies of scale of printing, warehousing, and distributing meant that the rest of the nation would get these Texas-approved textbooks too.</p> <p>No more. In the digital realm, publishers are adjusting their content to the curriculums of individual states. For example, Texas students can continue to get history texts that teach that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, while the rest of our nation's students can learn the truth. A triumph of technology.</p> <p>Anyway, as the parent of a Mercer Island High School student (no, I don't live there, my daughter's mother does), I'll be watching this experiment with great interest, and no doubt will report back my own observations.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/mercer-island-to-distribute-ipads-to-all-high-schoolers#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16188371&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Education Tech http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/07/mercer-island-to-distribute-ipads-to-all-high-schoolers?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16188371&id=comments 37 Thu, 07 Mar 2013 08:43:32 -0800 The Stranger