Author Archives: Steve Mays

Google Web History

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Remember James Keown? He’s the former Missouri radio guy charged with first-degree murder in the the death of his wife, Julie Keown. Authorities allege Keown poisoned his wife by spiking her Gatorade with antifreeze so he could collect on her $250,000 life insurance policy.

One of the witnesses in the recent evidentiary hearings was Andrew Winrow, a computer forensic investigator who testified that Internet searches recovered from at least one of James Keown’s computer hard drives revealed a search for The Anarchist Cookbook and ” homemade poisons” allegedly occurring on Aug. 17, 2004 and Aug. 18, 2004, less than a month before his wife’s death.

This story got me wondering what I’ve searched for and, as you might expect, Google makes has this info. Looks like I can go back about 90 days. I didn’t spot anything incriminating, but it’s an interesting snapshot of what I’ve been thinking about. I assume the NSA has this information as well.

Big undersea quake hits Indonesia

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Reuters: A powerful undersea earthquake has hit Indonesia’s West Java island. No tsunami warning (yet) and no immediate reports of damage or casualties. There has been some panic (no shit). The Indonesian quake watchers measured 7.0, while the U.S. geological survey said 7.4.

Indonesia

The quake struck 46 miles northwest of Indramayu and could be felt by residents in the capital Jakarta, as well as in the nearby city of Bandung (X marks the spot), which is where brother Blane & Family live. Still waiting to hear.

Update: Better map.

Update: 10:23 p.m. Just got email from Blane. "What earthquake?" That’s my baby brother.

Come quick, ma. Kay’s on TV. Again.

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ABC News Green RoomRadio Iowa News Director O. Kay Henderson (friend and co-worker) took part in the autopsy following Sunday morning’s debate by GOP candidates in Des Moines. The debate was hosted by ABC News’ This Week. Following the live broadcast, Kay and three other reporters (I think they were all reporters) appeared in The Green Room segment

Update: Others featured in the video are Rick Klein, ABC News senior political reporter; David Chalian, ABC News political director; Holly Bailey, Newsweek; Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune.

GPS dog collar

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Gpscollar
Garmin, a manufacturer of G.P.S. equipment, makes a tracking system that keeps tabs on dogs during walks in the countryside or in the dense ground cover of a hunting trip. It has two parts: a hand-held G.P.S. unit for the owner and another device that is mounted on the dog’s collar or harness.

If the dog bolts after a deer, the owner’s device will show where the dog is headed so the owner can follow and find it, even if miles away.

The Garmin dog tracker system, called Astro, costs $599, but the price may not be too steep for people who already have a deep emotional and financial investment in their dogs. Businesses that sell the Astro include Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, and Gundogsupply.com. [NYT.com]

Would I pay $600 to find Ripley or Lucy if they were lost. You bet. If they weren’t inside dogs, I’d have me a couple of these collars.

Henry Rollins on the Internet

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I used to count on Dennis Miller or George Carlin for this kind of rant. Miller got some kind of neocon brain tumor and Carlin… I’m not sure what happened to him. But Henry Rollins nicely captures my passion for the Internet and disdain for those that would thwart and control it. Strong, adult language. Not work safe.

Long Distance (Skype)

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Had a nice, leisurely chat with my brother tonight. We talked about 45 minutes. Regular readers know my brother lives on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia so we’ve always tried to keep our phone calls brief. Thanks to the miracle of Skype, we were able to really get caught up this evening (morning for him).

He recently got some kind of point-to-point, microwave Internet access. Not sure if it qualifies as “high speed,” but it’s a big improvement on the dial-up they’ve lived with since moving to Indonesia.

Skype_logo
Audio quality was pretty good. Waaay better than regular long distance connection. If he can boost his speed a little bit, we’re gonna try video. Stay tuned. And thank you, Skype.

Toxic Employees

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“Toxic employees are usually afraid, poorly managed and underappreciated. They can rarely be bullied into changing their behavior, often because they themselves are bullies. Managers can hire the non-toxic, re-assign the toxic and be really clear with themselves that they’re willing to pay almost any price to keep toxic employees away from everyone else. And if toxic employees appears to be a pattern, my bet is that it’s your fault, not the employees.”

— Seth Godin

Newspapers beat TV at local video

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Lost Remote points us to the latest blog entry from Bill Adee, the associate managing editor for innovation at the Chicago Tribune who wants the paper to be “the main online source of video for Chicagoland users.” And to get there, he says the Tribune has 31 staff photographers with video cameras, and the multimedia team has video cameras.

Again from Lost Remote’s Michael Gay: "Let’s be conservative and say that’s 40 video cameras shooting video around Chicago. After working in Chicago, I can tell you with certainty that there is no TV station with that many cameras out on the streets."

Why would any reporter (TV, print, radio) hit the street without a digital camera (and the knowledge to use it)?

Shopping for a digital video camera

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It’s time to replace the Sony camcorder and I welcome suggestions and advice from one and all. Here are the features I think I want:

  • Digital. Records to SD or SDHC cards* MPEG4 (H.264)
  • Recording time: 30-40 min
  • Accepts external mic
  • Can mount on tripod
  • Smaller the better
  • Firewire? Why would I need this if I can just pull the file across to the Mac?

If you know of, or spot a camera with these features, holler at me. I’m open on price if it has all or most of these features.