Nokia Unveils Handheld Internet Tablet

Nokia Corp. is introducing a handheld tablet for Web-browsing over a wireless broadband connection, the company’s first non-phone mobile device and the latest in a long line of attempts to create a so-called “Internet appliance” for quick online access around the home.

The new Internet Tablet, unveiled Wednesday and slated to go on sale this summer, is based on the open-source Linux operating system rather than the Symbian platform Nokia uses for “smart” cell phones.

Priced at $350, the Internet Tablet is being positioned as an alternative to buying an extra personal computer or laptop for different rooms, providing a cheaper, quicker and less-cumbersome way to connect to the Web and e-mail at home.

Wow! You mean for only $350, I can buy a flash memory based device with a whopping 4.1 inch screen? And I’m able to carry this from room to room in my house? Why would I ever want a full-fledged iBook ($899) or even, (shudder) one of those cheap Dell laptops ($549)? After all, those come with 12-14 inch screens, hard drives and actual keyboards.

Don’t Apple and Dell know all I want in a computer is a little penlet to write with? (My handwriting is so glorious after all!) For $75 or $150, it might be worth playing with, even though what you’d save in computing costs, you’d more than make up for at the optometrist. So, sorry, Nokia, no techlust here…

Well? What’ll it be, pal? Nice PowerPoint presentation you got there, Mr. Director of Sales Operations. Be a shame if anything, you know, happened to it, see?

The virtual mob is here! No longer does Fat Tony have to make the effort of driving down to your place of business to hassle you, the entreprenurial businessman! Ain’t technology great! Basically, the hacker breaks into the system (most likely a PC, not a Mac… just sayin’) and installs encryption software. He then encrypts all your important looking files before emailing you the ransom- in this case $200. Lesson? 1) Buy a Mac. 2) Back up your files- daily! What next, virtual gambling on the computer? Get outta here!

I had held off writing this post because of concerns Lileks had over the authenticity of the American flag in trashcan cover of Newsweek Japan. He wrote:

I will reserve judgment on this until tomorrow, because I am sure Newsweek with clarify matters - the flag was photoshopped, the unnamed source was mistaken, America is not dead, it is merely pining for the fjords. What’s more, it’s vaguely disturbing for people to write irritated entries on their personal websites about these issues; that way lies Brownshirts and bookburning. Best you stand there and take it like a cow takes a warm, lubricated suppository.

Lyrical as ever, but even noting his warning about potential Brownshirting (Thanks, former VP Lileks- Update: He was being sarcastic- Welcome to the mob, James! Pitchforks over there!), this cover is just one itsy bitsy giant leap too far. How do I know it’s not a photoshop? Well, while the image on Riding Sun has severe image quality loss and significant artifacts, it appears to be the same graphic found on Newsweek Japan’s website.

Smaller image from Newsweek Japan’s website, larger from Riding Sun. Now, I don’t read Japanese, but the URL and site just referenced seem pretty authentic, short of some spoofing going on.

As I wrote to Jim Geraghty:

The difference is simple.
CBS was simply anti-Bush. Love guy or hate the guy, he’s just one man.

Newsweek’s article was anti-American in conception, presentation and effect.

Their factually-deficient smear was targeted at not (just) George W. Bush, but the U.S. government and the American people.

Moreover, the effects of publishing such a piece were as predictable as shouting “Fire” in a crowded theater.

As news consumers we all have a responsibility to hold media outlets’ accountable. We have been fooled twice now (that we know of!), and the shame is ours. Anyone foolish enough to continue to reward Newsweek in the marketplace is asking for more of the same lies, innuendo, and anti-American agenda.

I wrote that in the heat of the moment (before Riding Sun’s two-faced cover discovery) and hoped if it were terribly intemperate he’d delete/ignore it, with no harm done. In the cool light of reason, however, my gut feel seems to be correct. There seems to be some serious conceit at work here. (Here, in the Pepsico “scandal”, too) Newsweek, a technologically dependent, international for-profit corporation, apparently cannot fathom the fact that some of its American readers might also read Japanese and might be less than thrilled with its presentation of our country. Riding Sun’s translations:

As you can see, the cover story shows an American flag, dirtied and tossed in a trash can, its staff snapped in two. The large white text reads, “Amerika ga shinda hi”, which translates to “The day America died.” Both of the above editions featured a cover-story article by Andrew Moravcsik, titled “Dream on, America”. (This was translated into Japanese as “Yume no kuni Amerika ga kuchihateru toki”, which is even harsher; it means, roughly, “America, the dream country, is rotting away”.) According to Newsweek itself, the article described “the world’s rejection of the American way of life.”

Newsweek depends on that terrible American way of life for its own survival. Without American-invented computer networks and electronic publishing systems, not to mention the First Amendment (the basis for similar statutes in many nations worldwide), Newsweek would not exist. It would certainly not be allowed to publish Isikoff’s Koran flushing nonsense without severe governmental backlash. Just as with the “Bush = Hitler” crowd, their protests and lacrimose whining would be crushed by Big Brother’s iron boot on their throats, were America truly dead.

So, what’s truly dead? Why all the hand-wringing? It’s simple. George W. Bush is singing from their hymnal. If the left in general preach realpolitik as their way of dealing with the world, it’s not because they want that. Their ideology demands equality and freedom for all the world’s people. The extreme left is seeing the results of good-hearted conviction that the world can be made a better place through American action and resolve. Wasn’t that the real point of the 60s? To make the world a better place by your actions? George W. Bush has led the American people, through its military, to free 40 million in places no one thought democracy could thrive. And while it’s not a done deal yet, the freedom projects in Afghanistan and Iraq are looking good.

In the meantime, it is not the government’s place to punish Newsweek. It’s ours, the public’s job. Captain’s Quarters had a “Not One Dime” campaign to get the Senate to show some backbone. My suggestion is a “Not One Click, Link, or Dollar” campaign for Newsweek and its parent, the Washington Post company. I believe Matt of Blackfive is thinking along these lines. It’s time for a Newsweek boycott, including the Washington Post. Who’s with me?

Added to Outside The Beltway’s Traffic Jam

Lest anyone think lunacy has been confined to the editorial board of Newsweek, Michelle Malkin and Rob Port set you straight. NewsDAY story here.
Key cut:

According to Hevesi, that was obviously an unintended consequence of a 1998 directive from federal officials telling states that Medicaid prescription programs must include Viagra. The state helps fund the program for its residents, and a review of Medicaid pharmacy expenditures was checked against the New York’s sex offender registry by Hevesi’s auditors.

1998, huh? Let’s see, who was running the government in 1998? You know, the fella from Ar-Kansas. I can’t recall his name at the moment.

Anyway, this scenario is really wacked-out. It seems the government is pandering to sex offenders. If Uncle Sam can buy Viagra for a rapist, he can buy locksmithing tools for burglars, knives for murderers, and Swiss bank accounts for embezzlers. In fact, it’s a 14th Amendment violation for the government to further the interests of serial rapists and child abusers above the interests of check forgers, drug dealers, and Zacarias Moussaoui! The ACLU really should investigate this angle!

I can hear the snickers now. As I wrote before, we’re very, very close to being in a world where only Keanu Reeves or The Govinator can save us:

Death could become a thing of the past by the mid-21st century as computer technology becomes sophisticated enough for the contents of a brain to be “downloaded” on to a supercomputer, according to a leading British futurologist.

However, he told The Observer newspaper, this technology might be expensive enough to remain the preserve of the rich for a decade or two more.

Among other eyebrow-raising predictions by Ian Pearson, head of the futurology unit at British telecommunications giant BT, is the prospect of computer systems being able to feel emotions.

At least we wouldn’t need to fly anymore- just download yourself to Tokyo or anywhere else there’s a fat net pipe. Shockingly, it will be available initially to extremely rich persons, about 2050 or so. By then, at least I’ll have one of them plasma screen thingies that all the kids are talking about…

Mudville’s morning Dawn Patrol is headed by more Newsweek revelations. If you want that sort of thing, it’s a good roundup. My thoughts on the matter haven’t changed. The media’s shooting itself in the foot and any time they want to reload is fine with me.

Actually, it’s not quite like that. What’s happening with the mega-media implosion is that the idea of ‘reliable information’ is going out the window. This blog has no reputation yet, but if I were to write a fake, but accurate story and got a few links from the right places, a brand new meme could be born.

I want the old media back, with some modifications. I want the 1988 Gary Hart media. They were generally for the guy, but when (and not before!) the evidence of affairs were in, they brought it to the American people’s attention. What was done to Clinton by Republicans and is happening to Bush on behalf of Democrats is ruining, perhaps for good, civil discourse in the United States.

The modifications I’d make to the 1988 US Media would be a) full disclosure of potential bias, and b) clear demaractions between news and editorial content. The American public is not stupid. After the New York Times plagiarism and timed explosives story last November, no one has a doubt that they are biased in favor of liberals. But this is not the problem! The problem is they, Newsweek, CBS, and other outlets are seen as being willing to twist the story (or invent it out of whole cloth) in order to further their political ideology. This must stop. Other media sources must stop providing cover when one of their own goes off the ethical reservation, if Big News as a whole is to retain any credibility.

But life is not all bad this week. No matter what the government or media says about those pictures of Saddam Hussein washing his socks, they’re nothing but a good thing:

From The Sun.

Looks like they’re not listening to me.

An Alitalia flight was diverted to Maine on Tuesday. The AP story:

An Alitalia jet headed to Boston was diverted to Maine on Tuesday because a passenger’s name matched that of a person on the U.S. government’s no-fly list, but the FBI later said the man was not a suspected terrorist.

Flight 618 from Milan, Italy, landed before 1 p.m. at Bangor International Airport, where the passenger and his luggage were removed. The plane took off about an hour later and reached Boston around 3 p.m.

The FBI questioned the man and decided not to arrest him, spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said. She said the case was referred to immigration officials, but declined to comment further.

So this guy, whose name and birthday approximated someone on the “No Fly” list’s information, was taken off the plane, BUT NOT ARRESTED? What’s the point?

Via Glenn is blogger Blogborygmi’s account of the incident:

The no-fly list is reserved for those with known or suspected links to terrorism, or other “threats to aviation.” This man was considered enough of a risk to scramble escort jets from Canada and the US, and enough of a risk to divert us to the nearest US airport available to a 767. On other occasions, however, the US has refused international planes carrying no-flyers, forcing diversions to Canada. And we were over Canada for a good long while.

I’ll try to guess what Homeland Security was thinking: since Flight 618 had made it across the Atlantic without incident, the risk of the suspect trying something between Canada and Bangor was apparently not worth bringing the plane that early, and maybe the US wanted custody of the suspect. But the risk of him flying into Boston was too great. OK, I can buy that. So the plane was diverted to Bangor, and the suspect removed. But, his carry-on and jacket are left behind for at least fifteen minutes (I didn’t see if when or if they were taken off the plane). The luggage compartment was checked for over thirty minutes to find and remove his items, while 200 or so passengers are kept on board.

Read the whole thing.

Mac OS 10.4 has been updated! Can you say “bug fix”? Apple re-enabled third party VPN software that was broken in 10.4, piled on loads of minor networking improvements, and increased the security of Dashboard widgets, something this blog had been calling for. The whole rundown is at MacNN.

Philip Machanick (is that a great name for a Mac pundit, or what?) has some observations on 10.4.1, including the news that Fahrenheit “is an obsolete temperature scale”. Who knew? Next thing you know, we won’t be measuring distance in feet and miles any more! He’s generally grouchy about the new update, but has some good information.

In other news, Apple has prevailed over TigerDirect, some sort of cheesy computer reseller. TD had sought to prevent the release of MacOS X 10.4 because of its Tiger appellation, citing trademark law. Justice prevailed, at least in part because TD’s efforts were a bald effort to leech buzz off Apple’s notoriously effective OS marketing.

and their ridiculous Koran flushing accusations:

Update: Read this “Quick Thought” @ Mudville Gazette.

As is so often the case, the recollection of history says as much about those remembering it as the events themselves- the latest is World War II, whose “Greatest Generation” is dying off quickly.

Remembering World War II
Victor Davis Hanson, historian and conservative thinker, is at his best where history and politics collide. Read it. OK, some teaser cuts:

As the world commemorated the 60th anniversary of the end of the European Theater of World War II, revisionism was the norm. In the last few years, new books and articles have argued for a complete rethinking of the war. The only consistent theme in this various second-guessing was a diminution of the American contribution and suspicion of our very motives.
…
Do we ever read these days that when the Luftwaffe bombed Britain, Russia was sending the Nazis fuel and iron ore? When Germany invaded Russia, however, Britain sent food and supplies.
…
There are two disturbing things about the current revisionism that transcend the human need to question orthodoxy. The first is the sheer hypocrisy of it all. Whatever mistakes and lapses committed by the Allies, they pale in comparison to the savagery of the Axis or the Communists. Post-facto critics never tell us what they would have done instead — lay off the German cities and send more ground troops into a pristine Third Reich; don’t bomb, but invade, an untouched Japan in 1946; keep out of WWII entirely; or in its aftermath invade the Soviet Union?

I won’t crib the closing, it’s just too good. Let’s just say the Me generation is shown to be the obvious low point between the Greatest Generation and the scions of the X,Y and Z generations who are fighting terror worldwide.

That’s not news, but it presents the question- do the events of history shape the people who experience them or does the generation alter the era in which they live?

It’s not truly an either/or question.

As most people recall George W. Bush was settling into a mediocre presidency on Sept 10, 2001.

Now it seems without question Bush will be remembered at least as an important president. Since September 11th, he has been transformed into a epoch-making commander-in-chief. No matter what results from his actions, George W. Bush has left deep footprints for his successors.

But it’s rare to see the same kind of dedication to a mission from any of Bush’s fellow baby boomers- of any political stripe.