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IT'S FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18TH. I'M NATALI MORRIS, AND IT'S TIME TO GET
LOADED. [*]
COMCAST ANNOUNCED THE LAUNCH OF A NEW 24-HOUR 3D CHANNEL CALLED
XFINITY 3D. THE CHANNEL DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE ANY THEMATIC THREAD. IT
WILL JUST PLAY WHATEVER IS IN 3D THAT IT CAN FIND. FOR EXAMPLE THE NHL
HERITAGE CLASSIC FOLLOWED BY A KINGS OF LEON CONCERT. DON'T MOST
CABLE CHANNELS HAVE A POINT? LIKE NEWS, OR SPORTS OR MUSIC? THIS IS
JUST A CHANNEL OF WHATEVER IS IN THIS FORMAT. I FIND IT ODD. THE
CHANNEL LAUNCHES FOR THE VERY FEW COMCAST CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE 3D
TVS ON SUNDAY. [*]
THE COMMERCE DEPARTMENT PUBLISHED THE RESULTS OF A STUDY THAT
CLAIMS THAT 5 TO 10 PERCENT OF THE NATION DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO
BROADBAND-SPEED CONNECTIONS. ACCORDING TO THE STUDY, THIS
PERCENTAGE DOES NOT HAVE DATA THAT IS FAST ENOUGH TO SURF THE WEB,
OR VIEW PHOTOS AND VIDEOS. THE DEPARTMENT PUBLISHED A MAP SHOWING
WHERE ACCESS IS THE MOST LACKING. THIS STUDY WASN'T REALLY AN
EXPERIMENT IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE THOUGH. THE GOVERNMENT
COMPILED DATA BASED ON ADVERTISING RATES FROM THE MAJOR CARRIORS
LIKE AT&T AND VERIZON. THEY DID NOT TEST FOR SPEEDS OR ALTERNATIVES
SO WE SHOULD TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT BUT STILL HOPE FOR BETTER
NATION-WIDE SERVICE FROM OBAMA'S 18-BILLION-DOLLAR BROADBAND PLAN.
[*] IN OTHER POLITICAL AND TECH NEWS, PRESIDENT
OBAMA DINED WITH THE HEADS OF MAJOR SILICON VALLEY FIRMS ON THURSDAY
INCLUDING APPLE CEO STEVE JOBS, FACEBOOK FOUNDER MARK ZUCKERBERG,
AND GOOGLE CHIEF ERIC SCHMIDT. THE EVENT WAS IN SILICON VALLEY AND
THE PURPOSE WAS TO DISCUSS INNOVATION, RESEARCH, AND JOB CREATION.
ALSO PRESENT WAS PAUL OTELLINI, HEAD OF INTEL, WHO HAS SINCE BEEN
APPOINTED TO JOIN THE PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON JOBS AND COMPETITIVENESS.
I'M SORRY TO SAY NO ONE FROM CNET WAS INVITED.
[*] A PILOT PROGRAM IN CALIFORNIA IS GOING TO
PUT GPS CHIPS ON STUDENTS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY COME TO CLASS. THIS IS
A 6-WEEK TRIAL AND IT BEGAN LAST WEEK IN THE ANAHEIM UNION HIGH SCHOOL
DISTRICT. SEVENTH AND EIGHT GRADERS WHO HAVE HAD 4 OR MORE UNEXCUSED
ABSENCES WILL BE ASSIGNED A HANDHELD GPS DEVICE ABOUT THE SIZE
OF A CELL PHONE. THE DEVICE WILL NOTIFY STUDENTS WHEN IT IS TIME
TO GO TO SCHOOL AND THEN TRACK THEIR LOCATION UNTIL 8 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT.
THE DEVICE ITSELF COSTS BETWEEN 3 AND 4-HUNDRED DOLLARS AND THE SERVICE
COSTS ABOUT $8 PER DAY PER STUDENT.
[*] THE MOTOROLA ATRIX IS COMING OUT EARLIER THAN
EXPECTED. THIS IS THE 4G MOTOROLA ANDROID PHONE WITH THE EXTERNAL
LAPTOP SHELL. IT WAS EXPECTED TO SHIP ON MARCH 6 BUT WE GOT WORD
THAT IT WILL INSTEAD SHIP ON FEBRUARY 21 AND BE IN STORES ON THE
22ND. WE GOT AN EARLY REVIEW UNIT AND REVIEWED IT BOTH AS A LAPTOP
AND A PHONE. BE SURE TO WATCH THOSE ON CNET.
[*] THE AMAZON KINDLE APP GOT AN UPDATE THIS WEEK
THAT GIVES USERS WHAT THEY HAVE LONG BEEN ASKING FOR: REAL PAGE
NUMBERS! VERSION 2.6 OF THE KINDLE APP ALLOWS YOU TO SEE REAL PAGE NUMBERS
INSTEAD OF SOME WEIRD NUMBER THAT GIVES YOU A RELATIVITY OF
WHERE YOU ARE IN THE BOOK. IT ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO LOOK UP WORDS
THROUGH GOOGLE AND WIKIPEDIA WITHOUT LEAVING THE APP. THIS ONLY
APPLIES TO IPAD, IPHONE, AND IPOD TOUCH APPS. NO WORD ON WHEN IT WILL
HAPPEN ON OTHER PLATFORMS LIKE BLACKBERRY OR ANDROID.
[*] AND FINALLY, RESEARCH IS UNDER WAY TO FIGURE
OUT IF COMPUTERS CAN BE DESIGNED THAT ARE CONTROLLED WITH OUR MINDS.
RESEARCHERS AT JOHNS HOPKINS AND THE UNNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
HAVE RECIEVED MORE THAN $6 MILLION TO CONTINUE WORK ON SOMETHING CALLED
THE BRAIN- COMPUTER INTERFACE. THEY HAVE ALREADY TESTED
THIS ON MONKEYS BY IMPLANTING ELECTRODES ON A MONKEY BRAIN AND
ASKING THE COMPUTER TO PROCESS ACTIVITY THAT IS ACTIVATED BY THE
NEURONS. THE MONKEY HAS BEEN ABLE TO EXTEND A ROBOTIC ARM, TURN DOORKNOBS,
AND EAT MARSHMALLOWS. NEXT UP: WE'LL SEE IF HUMANS
CAN DO THIS. WHO WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER?
[*] THAT IS YOUR NEWS FOR THE DAY AND THAT WRAPS
UP YOUR WEEK OF GETTING LOADED. WE WILL SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY
BECAUSE MONDAY IS THE PRESIDENT'S DAY HOLIDAY. HAVE FUN. BEHAVE.
SEE YOU SOON. AND REMEMBER CNET-DOT-COM-SLASH-LOADED FOR LINKS TO OUR
STORIES. I'M NATALI MORRIS FOR CNET AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.