News Story 2: Google’s Got Your Number

OREM, UT -- Google may become the premier phone and Internet Company of the 21st-century, as it tackles existing giants such as AT&T Corp., Apple Inc. and Google's current mobile partner, Verizon.

Google, the search engine turned computer industry behemoth, recently launched Google Voice which allows anyone with a Google account to have his or her own universal phone number.

Voice enables users to create their own phone number, with perks. This phone number allows you to do one stop shopping. Voice will forward any call made to the universal number to any number of devices including cell phones, landlines and Skype. The system even works with text messages. Most importantly, Google Voice is free.

When asked about Google Voice, Brandon, a 22-year-old student at Utah Valley University said “I have way too many numbers and some people know my cell number and others know my home phone, I can get the call even when they don’t know my cell.”

Voice, however has met some opposition from another industry giant, Apple. Upon releasing the Google Voice application for the iPhone, the app was denied by Apple. Apple claimed that Google Voice subverted several built-in apps on the iPhone. These apps make it possible to make phone calls over AT&T’s voice network and send text messages. Not that this affected the iPhone’s sales for the quarter as Apple’s stock continued to climb.

Google takes Apple's actions in stride as Voice may be the start of something bigger since Google recently acquired Gizmo5 for $30 million in cash. Gizmo5 offered audio and video calls, chat and free voice mail for pennies a minute. Many economists believe that Google may be making a break into the phone industry.

Should Google do this with a Gizmo5 based web platform instead of cellular frequencies, telephone costs across the board may begin a downward spiral. With cheaper service for smart phones, namely those loaded with Google’s mobile operating system – Android, Google could turn from underdog to top dog by offering the best and cheapest mobile network.

Hannah, 19, another UVU student, is not as optimistic, she thinks that Google is “too big, they do some good things but they are everywhere. That’s not good.”

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On the Net:

Google Voice: http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html

Google Voice Blog: http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/google-welcomes-gizmo5.html

Josh Wolf: Patriot or Terrorist?

After watching a clip from Frontline about the imprisonment of Josh Wolf, an independent reporter/blogger who was jailed for not giving the FBI his videotape of a protest that happened in July 2005. I have decided that the government does have the right get the information from a journalist as long as it it is relevant to the case at hand.

Josh Wolf recorded the video in a completely different location than the 'burned SFPD car' he was not linked with the incident in any way, except that he was at the same protest. He also wanted to keep the confidences of his contacts within the anarchist association that put on the protest. It is possible that he may have been lying, but the truth often is the best way to get out of a sticky situation. It didn't work for Josh, but it taught us a lesson that the government should investigate further into whether the content is genuine before wrongly imprisoning someone on the basis that they are lying.

iPhone Jailbreakers

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the iPhone over the past two years, especially in the underground community. How many people have languished over their 2-year iPhone contract and said “is it really worth $2500 dollars for me to own this phone?”

When AT&T got its greasy hands all over the iPhone, everything went downhill from there. AT&T iPhone users must pay for the 3G-network coverage $30 a month for two years. They also must pay nearly $60 a month for texting and calling not to mention a $300 to $500 iPhone. What a joke! However we have saviors, however illegal they are, like 20-year-old George Hotz, who spent nearly 500 hours cracking the first iPhone in the summer of 2007.

Hotz became an instant web icon. One person even traded his Nissan 350 Z to Hotz for an unlocked iPhone. Hotz has since then been the ‘go to guy’ for hacking secure devices. Recently he released Blackra1n, which allows a person to hack an iPhone in about 2 minutes without physically modifying the iPhone – something that is completely legal, as there are no laws protecting which software must be run on a machine. However it will void the warranty of the iPhone and your access to customer support. Some believe it’s a small price to pay for freedom.

Information found on:

CNN.com

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/16/iphone.jailbreakers/index.html

Real Salt Lake To Play In MLS Cup

With the game tied at 0-0, Real Salt Lake bested the Chicago Fire in a shootout to determine who would go to the Major League Soccer Cup. The results of the shootout: RSL 5, Fire 4.

This marks the first time since 1998 that a Utah sport’s team has made it to the final matchup for the professional title. Their confidence couldn’t be any higher. The MLS Cup is the event for American Soccer. Since its inception only a few years ago RSL is rapidly becoming a new chance for Utah to make a name for itself in the soccer realm.

Last year, RSL made it to the semifinals, but was ousted before it could make the cup. This year the team had the drive and confidence, despite being the last seed for the cup. It is true that RSL is the underdog, especially when their opponent will be the L.A. Galaxy, winner of a past MLS Cup. Galaxy is known for spending over $250 Million to sign English soccer phenomenon David Beckham and you can be sure that they’ll pull out all of the stops to reclaim that title. RSL, however, isn’t keen to give away the match that easily. Be sure to catch the game on Sunday November 22.

Information found on:

DeseretNews.com
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705344734/Real-Salt-Lake-Surprised-by-Chicagos-Fire.html

ESPN.com
http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=all&date=20091114&cc=5901

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Salt_Lake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Galaxy

Water Found On The Moon

The results of NASA's Grand Slam in October have finally come in. There is water in significant quantities on the Moon. The announcement came yesterday as Anthony Colaprete, a project scientist, held up several plastic buckets.

When the LCROSS satellite crashed into the moon, a 6,000-foot debris column was created above the moon’s surface. A rocket then flew through the debris to collect data on water content of the soil and other information.

NASA said that about 250 pounds of water (about 32 gallons) was found by studying the spectrometer readings of the debris cloud. There are several possible ways that the water could have gotten to the moon including solar winds, comets, or possible internal activity of the moon. There also is a chance that some of it came from the Earth.

NASA hopes that it will be able to study the water deposits in the soil to try and get a better picture of the history of the solar system and in particular, the moon itself. More importantly, NASA also wants to see if there is any feasibility to getting water for future settlements and moon bases that would serve as a platform to get to the other planets in the solar system.

Information found on:

CNN.com

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/11/13/water.moon.nasa/index.html

Deforestation Declining

The Brazilian Goverment announced that deforestation in the Amazon has dropped over 40 percent since last year, the biggest drop in 20 years.

When reading about the rain forest in the Amazon, one starts to feel adventurous, like something in a 1980's Indiana Jones movie. Online shopping also comes to mind, but that's a completely unrelated deal. The Amazon rain forest is the largest in the world and has notably decreased in size over the past century and a half. Settlers move in, with an insatiable lust for materials and space and shred the complex ecosystem and source of much of the world's oxygen.

The Brazilian Government decided to act in 1988 to slow the flow of wood out of the forest. Drops in deforestation have been modest until now. This year only 2,705 square miles of forest were cut down, the size of Austin, Texas. This is real progress, many people agree that the decrease will increase. One day we may see an Amazon that is no longer ravaged for its old growth trees as tree farms are established in previously deforested areas. The Brazilian goverment has also reported that 8.1 million cubic feet of illegally harvested wood has been confiscated between August 2008 and July 2009.

Information Found on:

USAToday.com:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2009-11-12-brazil-deforestation-drop_N.htm

Austin City Information:
http://www.jerryrusso.com/aus_info.html

Antimatter Occurs Naturally on Earth

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered the presence of positrons also known as antimatter in lightning announced Michael Briggs of the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Thursday.
When NASA launched Fermi to gather information about gamma-ray emissions in the universe, nobody expected it to find out that antimatter happens before, during, and after lightning streaks through the sky. Fermi did not actually detect the particles, but the specific type of gamma-ray emissions that the elusive form of matter leaves behind.
"It’s a surprise to have found the signature of positrons during a lightning storm," Briggs said.
It has been known since the 1990s that gamma-rays occur when lightning flashes, but not the presence of antimatter. Scientists around the world have yet to react to this announcement. But it sheds some light on antimatter and opens many inroads into the mysteries surrounding antimatter. We stand to gain a great deal more information by pointing specialized telescopes earthward in the hopes of some unknown knowledge coming to light.
Fermi has recorded at least 17 occurrences of antimatter since it was launched over 14 months ago. Researchers link the presence of antimatter to an unusual reversal of the electric field which generates lightning.

Information Found on:

ScienceNews.org
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49288/title/Signature_of_antimatter_detected_in_lightning