Peon's Place

Seton Hill University (Greensburg, Pennsylvania) will supply all new full-time students in Fall 2010 with a new iPad and 13″ Macbook.

The giveaway kicks off the small liberal arts university’s Griffin Technology Advantage Program, which aims to cultivate digital literacy among its students. It also marks a growing shift to provide students with e-books rather than textbooks. Students will have complete access to the devices during classes and for personal use. They can download textbooks from the iBook Store, take notes, communicate and share files with professors, advisers and classmates, conduct research and engage in interactive learning experiences. No word yet on whether the expected profusion of gaming apps for the iPad will be banned during class time.

If one free iPad and MacBook wasn’t a large enough lure for prospective students, Seton Hill has also promised to replace laptops with new ones after two years that students can then take with them when they graduate. The university boasts an on-site IT department trained in Mac repair and will even loan students MacBooks while theirs undergo restoration.

The only compensation? Seton Hill is increasing its technology fee for students receiving the iPad.

Ford Motor Company and Microsoft Corporation announced today that they will be teaming up again to make the widespread adoption of the electric car into a reality.

Ford said it plans to use Microsoft’s Hohm electric-car charging optimization service to help drivers determine the ideal time to charge their vehicles and how to best minimize impact on the grid.

Microsoft and Ford have already proven to be a successful partnership with the Sync system, a decade-long effort designed to improve drivers’ in-car experiences. Sync was launched in 2007 and has been installed on more than 2 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. The Internet-based service will be used for the Focus Electric plug-in hybrid in 2011, and in two next-generation hybrids in 2012.

It’s coming. And all you Verizon lemmings can’t wait!

Shareholders know it’s coming, too. Verizon rose 71 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $31.16 at 9:51 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock earlier added as much as 2.6 percent, the biggest intraday gain since Dec. 7. AT&T fell 24 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $26.27.

AT&T activated 3.1 million iPhones last quarter. Analysts state that the iPhone would boost new contracts by 3.5 million in the first 6 months of its Verizon release.

Apple and AT&T thus far have had a good relationship, and AT&T should be able to hold onto selling iPhones for a long, long time; albeit not exclusively. talk has been spread that CDMA (code division multiple access) iPhones will start being produces this September, and no longer will they remain GSM (global system for mobile communications) only.

I do have a theory, however, in regards to the shoddy service that I receive on my iPhone. I switched from Verizon to AT&T back in June when the iPhone 3G S was released. There were many others like me, both back in June of last year and when the iPhone 3G came out even earlier.My guess is that AT&T did not fully compensate for all the additional contracts, 3G bandwidth usage, etc.Cingular/AT&T used to have a pretty solid network, but with all the iPhones floating around, it’s hard to get reliable 3G in many metropolitan areas.

Now, once the iPhone is released to the world of Verizon (aka, good service), many people will jump from AT&T, thus no longer chewing up that network bandwidth. As such, the performance of downloads, surfing, etc shall become vastly better once there are fewer people using it. I feel as if Verizon will fall to a similar fate that AT&T did. As such, I FULLY support the iPhone going to Verizon. Go ahead, abandon AT&T, and give me fast 3G speeds again!

A recent survey commissioned by Microsoft found that 70 percent of recruiters and hiring managers in the United States have rejected an applicant based on information they found online. What kind of information? “Inappropriate” comments by the candidate; “unsuitable” photos and videos; criticisms of previous employers, co-workers, or clients; and even inappropriate comments by friends and relatives, according to the survey report, titled “Online Reputation in a Connected World.”

For better or worse, online screenings may be a permanent part of the 21st-century hiring process. The Microsoft survey found that 79 percent of U.S. hiring managers have used the Internet to better assess applicants.

Remember guys, hide/block your profile from the public eye when applying for jobs. Hiring managers no longer use just your résumé to find information about you.

Noted iPhone hacker George Hotz is teasing the web with a video that displays a new jailbreak for all iPhone and iPod Touch models, and maybe even the iPad, too, he says. This supposedly improved process (there’s no code to examine yet) aims to solve a problem that came into play when updated devices like the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3.0 were released. The issue? After performing the jailbreak on these newer devices, if you ever needed to reboot the phone, it had to be connected to your computer and the software that performed the hack would have to be re-run. No more, says Hotz.

While it’s great to see such a notable improvement on the horizon, there’s one big question that it brings to mind: who’s going to jailbreak an iPad? And why?

Jailbreaking is a term that refers to a type of hack which opens up the mobile device to allow for the installation of unapproved third-party programs. It has become well known over the years as a method which provides access to pirated iPhone applications – versions of paid applications available for free download from special programs that can be installed on a jailbroken device. However, that’s not the only reason that people jailbreak their iPhones and iPod Touches.

The main reason, many would argue, is not for free apps but for more apps – the kinds Apple doesn’t approve of. Thanks to a highly-regulated iTunes App Store and the restrictions it imposes on developers, some of the best applications are available outside Apple’s domain. Want to turn your iPhone into a modem providing Internet access to your laptop (aka “tethering”)? Want to download YouTube videos for offline viewing? Want to tweak hidden settings on your phone? Transfer files with Bluetooth? Enable Flash? Skin the phone with a custom theme and icons? Run apps in the background? Filter phone calls? The list goes on and on.

And yet, while these hacks have great appeal to users of the small mobile devices, some of them will no longer be necessary on the iPad, Apple’s upcoming slate computer whose launch is days away.

The ability to tether your iPhone to your laptop is one of the most popular reasons why people people jailbreak. However, on the iPad, you either have Wi-Fi only or you have 3G built in. Would you really need to tether your iPad to your notebook computer? Probably not. If you’re carrying the iPad around, you probably left the notebook at home.

Another favorite among jailbreakers is an application called Winterboard. This theming app lets you redesign your iPhone’s UI from icons to the background and even the battery icon and the “side to unlock” bar itself. On the iPad, though, users can now use any image as the iPad’s background image instead of just on the lock screen as is done on the iPhone. While the iPad feature is obviously still much more limited in functionality, it will likely placate some of those who feel the need for just a tad more customization than is available on the iPhone itself.

Similarly, many of the jailbreaking apps that let you perform or tweak phone-related functions will no longer be necessary since the iPad is not a phone. Same goes for the camera apps – the iPad doesn’t have one of those either. And Flash? Well, more and more sites are adopting HTML5 technology and with this, videos can be rendered plug-in free, just in time for iPad web surfers to enjoy.

So although there may end up being plenty of reasons to jailbreak the iPad, there will be – at least at launch time – far fewer reasons than on the iPad’s sister devices like the iPhone and iPod Touch. But we wouldn’t be surprised to see an ecosystem of rejected but still incredible and useful apps spring up over time. If there’s ever an unfilled niche the iPad doesn’t address, there will almost certainly be “an app for that.” You just might not be able to get it at the iTunes Store.

(this story taken from ReadWriteWeb)

While the majority of these articles are rather old news, what I did find impressive was this: “Obama proposes increasing NASA’s budget by about $2 billion a year to jump-start commercial space taxi services, as well as invest in new technologies that would eventually lead to a human expedition to Mars.”

I read that Obama is attempting to find commercial funding to assist with NASA (cutting back United State budget) and hopeful for further exploration.

The crew headed out on the 33rd launch to the space station on April 5th are going for a few fixes, repairs, restockings, etc. Some more installation and upgrading, etc. However back in February, they added a new room and a seven-window observation deck that gives astronauts stunning views of Earth from space.

If you’re interested at all, I implore you to visit NASA and Space.com websites.

As if you have not recently heard from just about everyone, singer Ricky Martin has come out of the closet. My only thought was, didn’t we realize he was gay back in the 90s?

He was quoted on his official website yesterday stating “”I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.”

Martin stated the birth of his twin sons led to his decision to come out. According to the singer, “To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids were born with.”

I made commenting on my site much easier — you can connect with Facebook (which you’re likely already signed into) and use that as your login. Spiffy!

It also allows you to publish, to your wall, the comment you made on my site. Plus, there’s a (very color uncoordinated) upper-right-hand-corner surprise.

Stu will be soooo jealous.

I read a couple of news stories regarding these yesterday and just giggled to myself. Apparently certain types of “baby slings” are being recalled as they are suffocating the children to death.

I’m sorry, but if you throw your newborn in a purse, you should be arrested. It’s bad enough we have Paris Hilton wannabes throwing miniature rat-dogs in purses, but babies? Really?

Earlier this month, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning about the use of certain baby slings, saying it had identified 14 deaths with sling-style carriers, most of them in children younger than 4 months. On Tuesday, Health Canada issued a joint statement with the agency, saying three of the deaths appeared to occur in one of Infantino’s slings.

In my opinion, don’t blame the company for making a product. Blame the dumbass consumer who purchased the thing and threw their kid in there.