The first computer bulletin board system (BBS) goes live on February 16, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. During a winter blizzard, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess piece together a computerized answering machine and message center that allows fellow computer hobbyists to send and receive announcements and meeting notes. They call it the Computerized Bulletin Board System.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Forbes Top Ten Richest Americans List
Did you know? Tech executives made up half of the Forbes Top Ten Richest Americans List in 2007, but how did they fare in 2008?
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The Waltons, the original family owners of WalMart, Sam's Club and other business entities seem to have taken over the majority of the Forbes list for 2008. Interesting!
Monday, October 06, 2008
Fireproof Sets Box Office -- and Amazon.com -- Ablaze
Article from ChristiansUnite.com
Samuel Goldwyn Films' FIREPROOF, starring Kirk Cameron, far surpassed industry expectations to place #4 at the box office for the weekend. Produced by Sherwood Pictures in Albany GA, FIREPROOF is the company's third film following FACING THE GIANTS - also released by Goldwyn, which went on to gross more than $10 million.
With an 1,200-person volunteer cast and crew, FIREPROOF opened on 839 screens, grossing $6,804,764. It was the highest opening weekend box office* of the year for films released on 1,000 screens or fewer. In the week before its opening, FIREPROOF pre-sold more than $1 million in tickets - far above the predicted blockbusters.
Directed by Sherwood's Alex Kendrick and co-written with his brother, producer Stephen Kendrick, FIREPROOF stars Cameron and newcomer Erin Bethea in a story about a firefighter who must learn how to rescue his own marriage.
Communities across the U.S. are using the film as a tool to support local firefighters, police, and other first responders' groups with divorce rates up to 90 percent. As first responders and their spouses spend a night at the movies, volunteer babysitting brigades on are the job, freeing up couples to go.
Meyer Gottlieb, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films, said: "Congratulations to Alex and Stephen Kendrick for showing once again that they know how to make a movie both entertaining and substantive. FIREPROOF will make you laugh, cry, and reflect. I'm confident audiences will continue to support it."
"The success of FIREPROOF is an example of the combination of great writing and storytelling, proper setup and marketing execution, all directed at an underserved audience hungry for filmed entertainment that meets their needs in many ways," said Terry A. Hemmings, president & CEO, Provident Music Group.
"Opening weekend turnout is a testament to grassroots marketing," said Provident Executive Vice President Ben Howard. "We spent nine months getting this movie and its message to the right people . . . now it's charging away on its own momentum."
Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church and executive producer, said: "We believe good stories can have a good effect. This film was made by a small army of people who poured into something bigger than themselves - into not just a movie, but a movement to restore and uplift marriages across the country."
Bob Rubin, executive vice president, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which oversees the Affirm Films label, one of the film's acquisition partners, said: "The faith market is a vast and underserved community with a growing appetite for filmed content that is both inspirational and entertaining. We are delighted to be part of the team that brought FIREPROOF to audiences nationwide."
A book entitled The Love Dare was only a plot device in the film until audiences repeatedly requested copies for themselves. The book also debuted in stores this weekend, having pre-sold 600,000 copies. Written by the Kendrick brothers, The Love Dare finished the weekend at #12 on Amazon.com and currently is in its seventh printing.
In coming weeks, Goldwyn plans to expand film's release to more than 1,000 screens.
SHERWOOD PICTURES
This is the third movie by Sherwood Pictures, its second theatrical release. FLYWHEEL, produced in 2004, has sold 200,000 DVDs. FACING THE GIANTS in 2006, earned $10.1 million at the box office and has sold more than 1.6 million DVDs (in 58 countries and 14 languages).
PROVIDENT FILMS
Provident Films is a division of Provident Music Group, designed to produce and distribute faith-based films. Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Provident Music Group is one of the world's leading Christian music companies. Provident Music Group operates under the umbrella for Sony BMG Nashville.
SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS
Samuel Goldwyn Films is a major, independently owned and operated motion-picture company that develops produces and distributes innovative feature films and documentaries. The company is dedicated to working with world renowned and emerging writers and filmmakers and, committed to filmed entertainment that offers original voices in uniquely told stories. This steadfastness is best exemplified by the Oscar-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, SUPER SIZE ME, AMAZING GRACE and Julie Delpy's hit comedy 2 DAYS IN PARIS. Goldwyn's 2008 slate also includes PRICELESS, a romantic comedy starring Audrey Tautou, Oscar-winner Claude Lelouch's ROMAN DE GARE, FUGITIVE PIECES based on the international bestseller by Anne Michaels, TRUMBO, the acclaimed documentary about Oscar-winner Dalton Trumbo and the critically hailed ELEGY, starring Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Facebook Email Spoof Contains Trojan Horse
Websense® Security Labs(TM) ThreatSeeker(TM) Network has discovered a new malicious social-engineering spam campaign masquerading as official emails sent by the popular Web 2.0 social-networking site, Facebook. The email is spoofed to appear from the domain facebookmail.com, an official domain used by Facebook for their outbound emails when notifying their users of an event.
It is common for Facebook to send an email to notify their users when another Facebook user adds them as a friend on the social network. However, the spammers included a zip attachment that purports to contain a picture in order to entice the recipient to double-click on it. The attached file is actually a Trojan horse.
A login page to Facebook is included in the body of the email. We have previously alerted on our discovery via our HoneyJax system about a viral Facebook phishing campaign, and thus would not be surprised if the login page presented was merely a fake front to a phishing site. However, an examination of the HTML form's source code shows that it was indeed passing the user name/password to Facebook itself. This may be to increase the legitimacy of the email to evade reputation-based spam filters.
To view the details of this alert, click here.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Personal Computer: IBM PC
The IBM PC was released 27 years ago today -- on August 12, 1981. Priced at $1,565, the personal computer had a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and a 160-KB floppy disk drive. There was an optional CGA color monitor. IBM's Disk Operating System was the OS for the "PC".
The development team at IBM developed and announced the IBM PC in 12 months, at that time, faster than any other hardware product in IBM's history.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
UFOs and Aliens are REAL, According to Former NASA Astronaut
Lest you think Mitchell is some crackpot with an ax to grind, consider this. Edgar Mitchell is a respected scientist, an a former NASA astronaut. Mitchell, is also the 6th man to land on the moon.
He came on air with Nick Margerrison of Kerrang Radio UK and told them that UFOs definitely exist, he has been in on it all, and that they are in contact with our government. Dr. Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.
The Daily Mail also featured an article regarding the radio interview.
Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down. In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. ... NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. ... Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.'
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Big Fish Games - Whale or Minnow?
I'm looking for information and reviews of Big Fish Games. Whether it's your favorite games website or a bane to your existence, I want to know. BFG offers entertainment in three categories: Online game, PC game, Mac game.
Send comments via this blog post. I'll accept ALL comments (that don't use vulgar language or ignorant claims one way or the other). If you've never heard of Big Fish Games, check out the following link to their site -- and Game Club:
Here are a few of the titles they offer:
I look forward to reading your opinions and comments.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Technology History: Ethernet LAN
The first Ethernet LAN data packet was transmitted at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center on May 23, 1973. Bob Metcalf and David Boggs were the inventors of the networking technology that would eventually be used on the vast majority of local area networks in the world. For three years they worked to refine and improve their invention. By 1976, their experimental network was connecting 100 devices.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Six Gas-Saving Myths
Article provided by CNNMoney.com
Sure you want to save gas, but there's a lot of bad advice on how to do it. Some of it makes no difference, and some of it can wind up costing you. With gasoline prices hitting record levels, it seems everyone has a tip on how to save fuel. Much of the advice is well-intentioned, but in the end, much of it won't lower your gas bill. Here's a look at a few misconceptions:
#1. Fill Your Tank in the Morning
You may have heard that it's best to fill your gas tank in the early morning while the fuel is cold. The theory goes that fluids are more dense at lower temperatures, so a gallon of cold gas actually has more gas molecules than a gallon of warmer gas.
But the temperature of the gasoline as it comes out of the nozzle varies little during the course of the day, according to Consumer Reports, so there's little, if any, benefit, to getting up early to pump gas.
#2. Change Your Air Filter
Maintaining your car is important, but a clean air filter isn't going to save you any gas. Modern engines have computer sensors that automatically adjust the fuel-air mixture as an increasingly clogged air filter chokes off the engine's air supply.
While engine power will decrease slightly as the air filter becomes clogged, a lack of performance or an increase in fuel consumption will be negligible, Consumer Reports says.
#3. Use Premium Fuel
With prices already over $4.00 a gallon, premium gasoline is a hard sell these days. But a lot of drivers think because their owners' manual recommends premium, they'll get better fuel economy if they stick with it. Really, they're paying more money for nothing.
Even cars for which premium is recommended won't suffer with regular fuel. Modern engine technology comes to the rescue again. When sensors detect regular instead of premium fuel, the system automatically adjusts spark plug timing. The result is a slight reduction in peak horsepower - really, you'll never notice - but no reduction in fuel economy.
#4. Pump Up Your Tires
Proper tire inflation is important for a number of reasons. Under-inflated tires are bad for handling and can even cause a crash. Improper tire inflation also causes tires to wear out faster and to heat up more, which could trigger a dangerous high-speed blow-out. According to on-the-road driving tests by both Consumer Reports and auto information site Edmunds.com, underinflated tires reduce fuel economy, so proper inflation is key.
But you should never over-inflate your tires. They'll get you slightly better fuel economy because there will be less tread touching the road, reducing friction. But that means less grip for braking and turning. The added risk of a crash isn't worth the extra mile a gallon you might gain.
#5. To A/C or Not A/C
There's no question air-conditioning makes extra work for the engine, increasing fuel use. But car air conditioners are much more efficient today than they used to be. In around-town driving, using the A/C will drop fuel economy by about a mile a gallon. Meanwhile, driving at higher speeds with the windows down greatly increases aerodynamic drag. As speed increases, drag becomes more of an issue, making A/C use the more efficient choice at high speeds.
At most speeds and in most vehicles, A/C use drains slightly more fuel than driving with the windows down, contends David Champion, head of auto testing for Consumer Reports. "My final take on is that it's very close," says Phil Reed, consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. "It's hard to measure the difference and every vehicle is different."
#6. Bolt-Ons and Pour-Ins
Before you buy a device that's supposed to make your car more fuel-efficient or pour in an allegedly gas-saving additive, ask yourself this: Don't you think oil and car companies aren't doing everything they can to beat their competitors?
If BP could add something to its gasoline that made cars go farther on a gallon, cars would be lining up at the company's pumps. Sure, people would burn their fuel-saving BP gas more slowly, but then they'd drive right past rivals' gas stations to come back to BP for more. BP stations could even charge more for their gas and still sell tons of the stuff.
So if there really was an additive that made gas burn up more slowly, it wouldn't be sold over the Internet one bottle at a time.
"There are a number of these gas-saving devices that are generally useless," says Champion.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
What Does the Average Person Pay For Gas?
As a follow-up to yesterday's post about gas prices and the financial strain it is placing on our family, I wanted to offer some stats on avg driving costs.
The average vehicle gets 23 mpg combined fuel economy. 1
The average miles driven per week is 200. 2
The avg. unleaded regular gas price, over the past year, in the US, has been ~$3.60/gallon. 3
Therefore, the average cost of driving a personal vehicle in America is ~$31.30 per week. The average monthly cost is ~$134.00.
If gas prices were "normal" and we were not being gouged by the oil companies, the price would probably be around $2.30/gallon. Without being screwed, we would likely pay, on average, around $20.00 per week for regular unleaded gasoline. The monthly average would be ~$86.00.
That's $48.00 per month difference in what the average person pays to what he would pay if not for oil company greed. Folks, those numbers add up quick. The annual total difference is $576.00 -- and that's just for cars getting 23mpg and people who drive only 200 miles per week.
If you drive a 15mpg pick-up or SUV an avg. of 300 miles per week, your total added costs is $112.00 per month, or ~$1342.00 per year.
So, what is the answer?
- Higher mpg?
- Lower gas prices?
- Drilling in ANWAR?
- Tax cuts?
- Penalties for the oil companies?
- Human beings conserving?
Sources:
1. http://www.southcarolinagasprices.com/Past_polls.aspx?poll_id=306
2. http://www.southcarolinagasprices.com/Past_polls.aspx?poll_id=351
3. http://www.southcarolinagasprices.com/
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