FCC Working Group on the Information Needs of Communities

...It effectively tells media companies that the government can’t do much to help them, and the companies had better start adapting.

One of the biggest trends that the FCC flags as important in the report is the loss of what it calls “accountability” journalism, in which news outlets on a local and/or national level cover the government and thereby act as a check on power...

And what does the FCC think can be done to fill it? Not much. As the report notes, it’s not clear how that kind of journalism — which doesn’t tend to attract much advertising interest — is supposed to pay for itself on an ongoing basis...

...media companies need to adapt to the new shape of the industry, and try to learn from alternative models and businesses. Probably the biggest move it recommends is that the government shift some of the $1 billion or so it spends on advertising its own services to smaller and/or alternative news sources, as a way of helping media outlets on the revenue side.

...the report more or less leaves media companies on their own to evolve and adapt without any help from the broadcast regulator...

http://gigaom.com/2011/06/10/fcc-to-media-dont-look-to-us-we-cant-help-you/

FCC report on media warns of decline in quality local news

Local TV is singled out in the report for not covering important issues enough. Alhough the number of hours of local news has increased over the last few years, too few stations "are investing in more reporting on critical local issues," the report said. Furthermore, the report said that although stations may be adding newscasts, they are doing it with fewer reporters.

Even with the additional newscasts, the stories often focus on crime and the reason for that has more to do with with how cheap it is to cover crime stories than it does viewer demand.

"As technology offered consumers new choices, it upended traditional news industry business models, resulting in massive job losses," the FCC said.

The result has been "gaps in coverage that even the fast-growing digital world has yet to fill." Although the digital media may someday can fill the void left by diminishing traditional media, "at this moment the media deficits in many communities are consequential."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/06/fcc-report-on-media-warns-of-decline-in-quality-local-news-.html

FCC Report Recommends Moving Government National Ad Spending to Local

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/469464-FCC_Report_Recommends_Moving_Government_National_Ad_Spending_to_Local.php

http://www.fcc.gov/info-needs-communities

record on an iPod/iPhone from a guitar/mic/source

If you have an iPod, you might have the beginnings of a mini-recording studio available to you. And with another piece of equipment, the i-GX Guitar Effect Processor with iPod Player/Recorder, more options...

The Jammin i-GX will allow for playing a guitar while using an iPod for practicing. It will also record the session...to the iPod.

There is a 6.35 mm (1/4-inch) input port for a guitar, one (unbalanced) for a microphone, and one that allows for the unit to be connected to an amplifier. And there is a 3.5 mm (1.8-inch) stereo line-in auxiliary input port.

Input sensitivity
AUX (3.5mm stereo): 250 mV
iPOD: 500 mV
GUITAR(6.35mm Jack): 8mV
MIC(6.35mm Jack): 10mV

With a 3.5 mm (1/8-inch) stereo headphone output port, the audio can be monitored as the i-GX is used as a 4-channel mixer (with the iPod, guitar, microphone, and the auxillary input port).

The 24 bit/96 kHz effects processor includes:
5 amplification simulations (acoustic, clean, overdrive, distortion, and microphone)...
4 digital effects (chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremelo)...
and 2 ambience options (reverb and echo).

The "Compatibility Chart" included in the packaging noted some generations of iPods and iPhones:
iPods, from 3rd to 6th generations
Minis, 1st and 2nd
Shuffle, 1st and 2nd
Nano, 1st through the 4th
Touch, 1st and 2nd
and 3G and 3GS iPhones.

Certain features are supported by specific models: some units can be recharged by the i-GX, and record using the “Voice memo” application in the iPod.

And another tool that is built-in is a harmonic tuner (E/A/D/G/B/E).

The i-GX measures 147 mm (5 inches) × 162 mm (6 inches) x 58 mm (2 inches)...which is about as large as my open hand. And it weighs only 0.4 kg (14 ounces)...about as much as a "heavy" cellphone.

Four AAA batteries are needed to power the unit, but there is a port for the connection of a 9-volt (1 ampere) AC adapter.

http://www.jamminpro.net/products/guitar_effects/igx/index.html

http://www.jamminpro.net/minisite/igx/index.html

PURCHASE AT AMAZON.COM:
Jammin i-GX Guitar Effect Processor with iPod Player / Recorder

======================================


Other products available from Jammin Pro include the StudioMix 702 7 channel mixer...

It can record to USB flash drives up to 32 GB in size.  "Channel 1" has 1 XLR input, and 1 1/4-inch, mono input..."channel 2 and 3" are line level inputs...and "channel 4 and 5" have RCA inputs.

----------------------------------------------------

The Jammin Pro StudioPack 202 is a 3 piece bundle mini-studio to allow for recording performances to a computer.

The SoundBox 202 audio interface connnects to the USB port.  From the Quick Start Guide (that's included in the package), the supported configuration is to:  "Connect the Microphone...to Input 1 of SoundBox 202, or you can connect your guitar/bass to the input 2...at the same time."

The C-10 (condenser) microphone has a cardioid (heart-shaped) pattern.  A table stand, and large windscreen is provided.

And the comfortable HD-65 headphones have a 10 foot long cord.  They have become my "go to" headphones.

the most secure version of Windows

{SLICK}

At this time, the most secure client version of Windows is the 64-bit version of Windows 7.

I've tried to edit the following to something that is as easily understood as possible...

================================

An Introduction to Kernel Patch Protection

The kernel is the lowest-level, most central part of a computer operating system and one of the first pieces of code to load when the machine starts up. The kernel is what enables the software of the machine to talk to the hardware and is responsible for basic OS housekeeping tasks such as memory management, launching programs and processes, and managing the data on the disk. All applications and even the graphical interface of Windows run on a layer on top of the kernel. The performance, reliability, and security of the entire computer depend on the integrity of the kernel.

The kernel is the most carefully coded piece of the entire operating system. Since all other programs depend upon it, a glitch in the kernel can make all other programs crash or perform unexpectedly. You're probably also familiar with the term, "Blue Screen of Death" (BSoD). This is the result of an error in the kernel or in a driver running in the kernel that is so severe that the system can't recover from it. The BSoD is bad, so we want to do everything we can to keep customers from seeing it. One of the ways we can do that is to maintain the integrity of the kernel by restricting what software is allowed to run in and interact with it.

"Kernel patching" or "kernel hooking" is the practice of using unsupported mechanisms to modify or replace kernel code. Patching fundamentally violates the integrity of the Windows kernel and is undocumented, unsupported and has always been discouraged by Microsoft.  Kernel patching can result in unpredictable behavior, system instability and performance problems—like the Blue Screen of Death–which can lead to lost user productivity and data...

...Kernel Patch Protection was first supported on x64 (AMD64 and Intel EMT64T) CPU architecture versions of Microsoft Windows including Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows XP Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. (Patch protection is currently not supported on x86 or ia64 architectures.)

======================================

{SLICK}

So, the lesson here is:  whenever possible, use software and hardware designed for the (64-bit version of the) operating system that you are using.

=====================================


The Windows 7 Software Logo Program

The ‘Compatible with Windows 7 logo’ helps customers make better purchase decisions by identifying products that have passed Microsoft designed tests for compatibility and reliability on Windows 7. The logo provides the ultimate seal of approval...

======================================


The Windows 7 Application Compatibility List for IT Professionals is a Microsoft Office Excel-based spreadsheet listing software applications which have met Windows 7 Logo Program testing requirements for compatibility with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7, and have thereby earned the right to display the Windows 7 Logo Program logo with the application. These products are identified with the compatibility status “Compatible – Windows 7 Logo.”

...this list includes applications with the following compatibility statuses: “Compatible,” “Free Update Required,” “Paid Update Required,” “Future Compatibility,” and “Not Compatible.” These statuses are based upon the software publishers’ statements of compatibility. These products have not met the Windows 7 Logo Program testing requirements. For an explanation of the various compatibility statuses, please see the Release Notes for the Windows 7 Application Compatibility List on the first tab of the Excel spreadsheet.

For the latest catalog of compatible applications and hardware devices, please visit the Windows 7 Compatibility Center and select a region and language from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. You can also leave feedback on compatibility and suggest new products to get added in future reports.

Thirsty Thursday Tech Episode 76 "Rick Borutta CBS"

Miss July 1959 Playboy centerfold Yvette Vickers...

Check the news...she was found dead in her home, and may have been there for over a year...

hiring test drivers in Yuma

I read three stories about "Yuma Test Driver positions" being available (http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=14420142&utm_medium=twitter, http://www.yumasun.com/news/west-69085-vehicles-test.html, http://www.kpho.com/automotive/27500831/detail.html)...

The General Motors "desert proving ground in Yuma is looking to add nearly two dozen drivers..."

On ketteng.com, I did not find the application available for download.  I contacted the company, and a Human Resource Coordinator responded with the following link for the "Yuma Test Driver position":  http://www.ketteng.com/downloads/KettApp.pdf 

And:  "Please fax your completed application, forms, and a current copy of your MVR to (888)488-0322."

When is a photograph pornography?...

Framing Innocence: A Mother's Photographs, a Prosecutor's Zeal, and a Small Town's Response tells the story of...

Cynthia...a passionate photographer, particularly of her favorite subject: Nora. In the years since her daughter's birth, Cynthia had shot, cataloged, and stored in her cramped dining room more than 35,000 pictures. She hoped to someday publish a photojournalistic account of her family's life. But her most ardent mission was to give her daughter a photographic memory of her childhood.

Nora's childhood changed irrevocably one July day when a film-processing lab sent a roll of Cynthia's prints, including snapshots of Nora in the bathtub, to the police. When she had shot them, Cynthia hadn't thought twice about those pictures, which were a sequence of her daughter bathing and rinsing off with a handheld shower sprayer. The police and county prosecutors, however, looked at the pictures and saw a child performing a sexual act. They indicted Cynthia on two felony charges. Soon afterward, Children Services filed child endangerment charges against Cynthia, alleging that Nora was an abused child. Those leaps of the prosecutorial imagination launched Cynthia and her family into a legal ordeal that would consume one and a half years, cost $40,000, and send emotional aftershocks through their lives for a decade.

...When does a photograph of a naked child "cross the line"? What makes a photograph dangerous — the situation in which it is shot or the uses to which it might be put? Does context matter, or is a photograph a world sealed within its thin white frame? Who decides whether a picture is cute or lewd — the parent who shot it, or the prosecutor who has learned to look through the eyes of the perverts he prosecutes?

Framing Innocence

When someone dies, they are not the only people who are "out of time"...

My friend's father died today.  Lots of thoughts came to my mind...

In a sense, now, he probably feels alone.  He's not currently in a relationship.  His mother is not alive.

His father's health had been declining.  So, as this outcome was logically expected, it was very tough on my friend.  In our conversations I noticed the pressures he was under.  As much as I could, I tried to be available for him...which, in my opinion, hasn't been enough:  I haven't been able to "help myself", therefore I haven't been able to provide a lot of help to others.  I have been unemployed for over four years, have no transportation, and don't have my own residence.

Before his father died, I asked my friend if he and his parents/father had conversations that needed to be before it's too late to have them...if all that should be said has been.  A lot of those conversations never happen for people.  I have never met my father (Franz Ray).  I have been trying to locate and contact him, and any siblings and other relatives I have.  I fear my father will die before we get to meet and talk...

By their choice, I have estranged relationships with some of my children.  Because I've been told that's what they truly want, I'm OK with that.  There are some members of your family you will never be friends with, and some friends you consider "family".


A few years ago I lost a friend by the name of Wally.  In a very short amount of time, he and I came to be very close.  (We both liked to joke and be silly, and were not "polically correct"...especially to eachother.)  Wally had trouble with alcohol.  We had talked about it...he had been in rehab...lost his job...needed to have a breathalizer installed in his vehicle.  It seemed he drank when he was alone, and lonliness had a lot to do with him drinking, so I had hoped we could find a place together...work together and build a (production) company...get some (radio) gigs.  The booze got to him before I could.

I had a couple of friends who were married.  There were problems in their marriages, and they were able to work through them and stay together.  Something I envy.


Whether you know me or not, this is a message and warning to all:  I don't want anyone to regret when/if they had an opportunity to...interact...with someone, but chose not to because of pride, stubborness, promises/oaths, fear, and other reasons that "prove your point" or causes you to "win the fight/arguement/confrontation".  Is it truly important?  If so, and you can live with your decision for the rest of your life, only you know what's best for you.  If not...if there is any slight chance of doubt...it might/could haunt you for the rest of your life, and that of other members of your family.

I've experienced that a lot of things have been said, but not meant...or, not meant "forever".  Because I have never liked to be picked-on, teased, and "played-with"...I've taken what has been said to me with great seriousness.  Maybe sometimes too serious, but some people joke and "play" too much...they don't know when to stop.  Some have tried to manipulate people (and me) with words and emotions.  So, those experiences has pushed me to the other extreme:  you say it, I tend to respond as it was presented.  I've been told to leave, but when I did, they complained that I left.  It's been said to me, "I will kick your ass"...so, I planned to strike first.  It's been said to me, "I'll kill you"...so, I made plans to do so to them before they do so to me.  She said she wanted a divorce, so I planned for it...and later learned she said it to get a response from me (to get me to "fight" for the marriage...all that did was to confuse me).  I don't believe in supporting stress and "drama" in relationships.

Say what you mean/mean what you say, spend time with those you want to, get to know those you want to know, love (and show love to) those who love you...BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

The Communicators: Controlling the Internet

Karen Evans, who served as the administrator for E-Government at the Office of Management & Budget from 2003-09, supports the bill.

Timothy Karr provides a contrasting perspective; he is the campaign director at Free Press and explains why he has reservations about the current language in the bill.

Deborah Wheeler, the Assistant Professor of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy, changes focus toward the ongoing conflict North Africa and the Middle East and the role of the Internet in those situations. She conducted field research in several Middle Eastern countries on the use of the Internet and also teaches at American University in Kuwait.