As almost anyone with a comprehensive world view well knows, America’s future lies not in having the mightiest military but in marshaling its extraordinary assets — its people, its infrastructure and its renewable resources — to assure a more secure 21st century. That the wonks at Foreign Policy magazine recognize that reality in publishing a paper titled “A National Security Narrative”...

Continuing with our global roundup of reaction to bin Laden’s death – does the apparent demise of Osama bin Laden signify the death knell of Islamist Jihadism? For Spain’s El Pais, columnist Liuis Bassets writes that President Obama has not only assured is own reelection, he has given what has been called a ‘war on terror’ its crowning achievement. For El Pais, Liuis Bassets...

An aide to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld broke the news that Osama bin Laden was dead — on Twitter. And an IT guy in Pakistan unknowingly live-tweeted the attack. Follow along (at Storify) to see how the story played out on Twitter. This is what it means to have the real-time web plus a networked world citizenry. And today, Twitter is still a relatively niche communications tool. Imagine what...

That is the theme of this guest piece at Think Progress by climate scientist Brad Johnson (emphasis in original):

Apple Computer recently hastily threw together a combination news conference and product launch on their now-leaked new iLocater product. In an empty Moscone Center, CEO Steve Jobs sought to stem the criticism of the iLocater, touting it is “one of the best things Apple has ever done.” Jobs also announced that the iLocater is the long-delayed companion piece to the 2005 “iSquel Hotline”...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Yikes! Navigation device maker TomTom has apologized for supplying driving data collected from customers to police to use in catching speeding motorists. The data, including historical speed, has been sold to local and regional governments in the Netherlands to help police set speed traps, Dutch newspaper AD reported here, with a Google translation here. As more smartphones offer GPS navigation service, TomTom...

While peak oil may threaten our civilization peak water threatens our species. Hydraulic fracking is seen by some to be the next solution to the fossil fuel shortage but what about its impact on water resources.  While we are told that it can be done safely experience tells a different story.  This from yesterday: Gas Drilling Emergency in Bradford County Officials said thousands of gallons of fluid leaked...

Is Mexico, in the words of La Jornada columnist Jorge Camil, “witnessing the beginning of a dangerous expansion of U.S. military activity in Mexico and Central America”? In this column, Camil chastises Mexico’s Senate for allowing unmanned U.S. drone flights and warns readers that their use signals that Mexico is rapidly losing control of its territory to the U.S. and the drug cartels. For...

Seth Godin says perhaps we have to rethink economies of scale: If your goal is to make a profit, it’s entirely possible that less overhead and a more focused product line will increase it. If your goal is to make more art, it’s entirely possible the ridding yourself of obligations and scale will help you do that. If your goal is to have more fun, it’s certainly likely that avoiding the high...

Wired’s Danger Room: Buried within a seemingly innocuous list of recent Air Force contract awards to small businesses are details of plans for robot planes that not only think, but anticipate the moves of human pilots. And you thought it was just the Navy that was bringing us to the brink of the drone apocalypse. [...] Enter Soar Technologies, a Michigan company that proposes to create something it calls...

One of the reasons our health care expenses are so high is that we Americans are not very healthy.  Yes, smoking, drinking and lack of exercise contribute to this but in addition the food industry is supplying us with unhealthy foods.  A case in point is rice and it’s international and dates back 150 years. After farmers harvest their rice, it typically goes to a mill. There, it is cleaned and the...

Have you ever wondered how it is that if your hard drive or mine fails, there’s no hope of ever recovering a thing from it. But if the police get the same hard drive they explain that there’s no way to completely delete anything on it? Remember the sad case of Julie Amero. Hers is not the only one of its kind. In a related vein, Bruce Schneier today on software as evidence, “We in the security...

Today Google Map Maker becomes available in the U.S. With Map Maker, any Google user can add details to maps of university campuses, biking and walking trails or any other points of interest beyond roads. Along with the ability to see and edit all points of interest, new features allow Street View to be used from within the editor and an advanced search engine includes options such as displaying all railroad...

I have been missing in action the last couple of weeks.  I have been occupied – I am the care giver for my 88 year old mother and she had some medical issues.  About the time she was improving my computer died (hard drive), fortunately I had not done much of anything since I backed up last time so I didn’t lose much but I did have to find the $ for a new one.  I did but the new machine is Windows...

Hey, after all these years, I’m vindicated at last: Scientists from Keele University found that letting forth a volley of foul language can have a powerful painkilling effect, especially for people who do not normally use expletives. To test the theory, student volunteers placed their hands in a bucket of ice cold water while swearing repeatedly. They then repeated the exercise but, instead of swearing,...

On that dreadful Saturday afternoon in January, I along with many others started blogging on the tragedy in Tucson and updated the story at first every few minutes, then every few hours. Then, after the political and finger-pointing comments abated, I started updating the story almost daily, via comments, focusing on the miraculous recovery of Representative Gabrielle Giffords. From the number of “views”...

The White House made a big statement about (digital) identity theft on Friday, with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke announcing a public-private sector effort,  National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). “The administration hopes to see a robust trusted ID market in the U.S. in three to five years,” according to PC World. The trusted ID technologies described in NSTIC...

It is indeed a great irony: Two days before the massive 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, one of FEMA’s senior officials during Hurricane Katrina was in Japan to warn of the danger of careless and uncoordinated disaster response planning. According to this article from Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, his warnings seem to have fallen of deaf ears. For Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, reporter Fumi Igarashi writes...

Cellphone In London Oxford mathematicians have developed a tool that allows British consumers to analyze their mobile phone bills and figure out the most affordable subscription plan. Their analysis suggests that shifting to the right plan (one more atune to actual usage) would save British consumers £4.899 billion annually. That’s $8 billion. (If the comparison were one-to-one, that would be equivalent...

Is the U.S. talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to Internet freedom? Continuing with China’s online counter-offensive, this article from state-run People’s Daily asserts that Pentagon plans for software to allow Defense Department personnel to assume multiple identities online for the purpose of planting pro-U.S. propaganda again demonstrates to the world that America cannot be...

Some things are so far out, it’s hard to believe they’re true. Like when a broadcaster in one of the most open, liberal countries in the world bans episodes of a TV show like The Simpsons as a public safety measure. But according to an incredulous Patrick Etschmayer, Swiss Radio and Television [SRF] has done precisely that. For Switzerland’s News, Patrick Etschmayer writes in part: After...

That’s the question the students greeted me with when I came into work this morning. They were gathered around a computer looking at today’s Google Doodle… The doodle celebrates the inventor of the Bunsen burner, Robert Bunsen, on what would have been his 200th birthday. The link goes to Bunsen’s Wikipedia page, where it says his birthday was yesterday. The Mail online reports the birthday...

I clearly remember the first time I felt my cell phone vibrate. I was alone, driving a low budget rental car on a surprisingly empty southern California freeway. It was dark and I was somewhat lost. I preface my lostness with “somewhat” to placate my masculine sensitivities. However, totally lost may be a more objective description of the situation. I had just finished a long day of doctoral classes...

Is MySpace becoming MyOhSoYesterday? It’s losing unique page views in droves quicker than Newt Gingrich is changing positions on Libya (well, maybe not THAT fast): Latest statistics suggest attempts to kick new life into MySpace may be failing. Tech industry analysts comScore say figures show MySpace lost more than 10 million unique users worldwide between January and February. There were almost 63 million...