Daily Archives: April 26, 2011

Steve Jobs: “Android tracks you, Apple does not.”

According to Steve Jobs, Apple’s iPhone and/or Apple corporation (the distinction is important but often muddled in this conversation) does not track its users’ geographical location, but Android (which is neither a phone nor a company, but a system … another important yet muddled distinction) does.

Supposedly:
Continue reading Steve Jobs: “Android tracks you, Apple does not.”

What Does IQ Really Measure?

Kids who score higher on IQ tests will, on average, go on to do better in conventional measures of success in life: academic achievement, economic success, even greater health, and longevity. Is that because they are more intelligent? Not necessarily. New research concludes that IQ scores are partly a measure of how motivated a child is to do well on the test. And harnessing that motivation might be as important to later success as so-called native intelligence.

Read the rest here.

Wii to be replaced in 2012; Preview expected in early June 2010

I’ve hardly ever played video games, and Julia, growing up, never did either. Then a couple of years ago we got a Wii and now we play it regularly but responsibly. Amanda joins us now and then.

After the filing of our 1040s, we realized we could afford to buy a new TV to replace our old energy-hogging tube model, so we did. Now we will be able to see what we are doing when using the Wii. As an indicator of how much we are NOT addicted to game play, I’ll note that other than testing that the connection works, We’ve not used it since installing the TV on Friday.

The Wii is great, but it is oddly quirky in its design. A key feature of the Wii is the Wii remote, an oblong object with numerous buttons and a wrist strap. There is a gel-substance cover that protects the remote, but that the user must fit over it, that must be removed to change batteries, or to add an “extra sensitivity” device.

The remote senses its own movement, but not sensitively enough for some games, so those games require the addition of an extra sensitivity device which mus be added to the oblong remote.

The extra sensitivity device must be removed to get the remote into the charger one normally would keep it in while not in use. The gel cover must be partly removed and the safety strap must be pulled awkwardly to one side, in order to get the remote into its charging cradle. Its like having sex while wearing an elaborate Halloween costume. Or maybe its like this. In any event, the safety strap, extra sensitivity, gel cover and ability to charge all seem to have been afterthoughts of each other.

But when the thing is all put together right, its fun and cool. People who use other gaming systems may disagree, but what do they know?1

Just the other day Julia expressed this concern: “I wonder when the next version of the Wii is going to come out?” … And, Nintendo responded with this:

To whom it may concern:

Re: Wii’s successor system

Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011.

We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles.

Sales of this new system have not been included in the financial forecasts announced today for the fiscal term ending March 2012.

source

Tiere is a claim that it will spit cappuccino into your face. How cool is that?

By the way, if you need a new TV here’s how to get one.

1Probably a lot more than I do, because I’ve never used them and don’t even know what they are called or what they do.

Explosion/Meltdown at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). It is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, and it is the only one classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

source

But it’s OK, because all that really happened is a few dozen people died in the explosion and fire, several thousand children had their thyroids cut out, and farmers across much of eastern Europe got an extended vacation.