Happy New Year!

I hope everything goes as planned for everyone this year.  To all of our soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world, I hope you’ll find ways to be safe and return to your families soon.

As we near the end of this decade, we must look back and realize that there has been more turmoil around the world in this decade than the 1990s.  For a society that has technologically continued to progress at an amazing rate, we must realize the millions of underprivileged people need help now more than ever.  They cannot be left behind.

World peace is desirable, but weighed against the continued security of the United States and that of the world, terrorists must be pursued and stopped.  The genocide in Darfur must end, and Israel and Palestine must find a common road to peace.  Only then can there be true peace.

As global warming threatens the very existence of the human race, we must stand together and limit waste collectively.  The world is too beautiful to be destroyed.

So, as we go forth into 2008, I hope everyone has a great year and that people make charity to others their most solemn resolution.

Patriots go 16-0

Tom Brady was as giddy as the quarterback of an unbeaten and perhaps unbeatable team should be. Had Bill Belichick spotted him slapping the backs of his New England teammates, the dour coach might have scoffed.

After all, a perfect 16-0 regular season won’t mean much if the Patriots don’t win their next three games and another Super Bowl.

“We’ve been dealing with being undefeated all season,” Brady said Saturday night after the thrilling 38-35 victory over the New York Giants in a game worthy of the NFL’s championship showcase. “It was kind of a strange game. It really doesn’t mean much to either team, but it means a lot.”

New England became the first NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins to win every game on the schedule, and that one was only 14-0. This victory required a Brady-engineered comeback from a 12-point deficit and smashed the Patriots’ league mark for consecutive victories.

“Going undefeated during the regular season is a remarkable achievement,” 1972 Dolphins coach Don Shula said. “I know firsthand how difficult it is to win every game, and just as we did in 1972, the Patriots have done a great job concentrating on each week’s opponent and not letting any other distractions interrupt that focus. If they go on to complete an undefeated season, I will be the first to congratulate Coach Belichick and the Patriot organization.”

Validation of the Patriots’ inexorable march through the season can only come by adding a Super Bowl championship. Do that, and there’ll be no challenge to their spot at the top.

“Hats off to us,” said record-setting receiver Randy Moss, who caught Brady’s 65-yard bomb for the go-ahead score that set two major records. “I know a lot of people didn’t think we were going to do it. A lot of people didn’t want us to do it.

“In this game of football, it’s hard to go 16-and-0. As a football player and a fan of the game, my hat’s off to this organization.”

In gaining their 19th straight win over two seasons, the Patriots went on top on Brady’s 50th touchdown pass of the year and Moss’ 23rd TD reception. It came with 11:06 remaining.

Brady beat Peyton Manning’s mark of 49 touchdown passes and Moss broke Jerry Rice’s record of 22 TD receptions. And the Patriots finished with an incredible 589 points for the season, another single-season record.

Once the victory was clinched, Belichick was barely more animated than usual. He shared hugs with players and assistant coaches on the sideline, but there was no thought of carrying him off on the Patriots’ shoulders or dumping Gatorade all over him.

That will have to wait for three more wins — if they come.

-msnbc.com

New security rules for batteries on planes

If you don’t want to lose your spare lithium batteries for your camera, notebook or cell phone, you might want to pack carefully for your next flight.

New rules from the Transportation and Security Administration that take effect on January 1 ban travelers from carrying loose lithium batteries in checked baggage. Passengers are allowed to pack two spare batteries in their carry-on bag, as long as they’re in clear plastic baggies.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about the batteries that are already installed in the devices you’re bringing. The TSA has said it’s safe to check in items like a laptop or iPhone that already have the batteries in place.

The agency said that loose lithium batteries not installed in devices pose a fire risk to passenger planes. Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board could not rule out the possibility that lithium batteries started a fire in a plane at the Philadelphia National Airport last year, according to the Associated Press.

If you do plan on bringing spare batteries in your carry-on bag, be aware of some other rules: You can only bring batteries with an equivalent of up to 8 grams of lithium content. (Most batteries for cell phones and laptops meet this requirement.) And for lithium metal batteries, whether carried as a spare or installed in a device, batteries are limited to 2 grams of lithium metal.

-CNET.com

Tech: What Will Go Wrong in 2008

NEXT YEAR
1) More targeted phish

2) Social networking attacks

3) Cell phone attacks

4) Nation-state attacks

You might have missed this story because it didn’t involve the U.S. government, but a remarkable thing happened earlier this month, according to the Times of London. The secretive MI5 agency sent warning letters to 300 banks saying they should be on the lookout for Chinese hackers. Cyberspies had already attacked Rolls Royce and Royal Dutch Shell, the newspaper said.

It certainly wasn’t the only reported incident of cyberwar last year. In the most notable event, Estonian officials in May blamed the Russian government for disabling its Web sites after a political scuffle between the two nations.

Dramatic attacks on infrastructure are not likely; rather, these attacks will be more subtle and focused on information-gathering, he said. “They are basically data mining, or spying.”

5) More interruptions, more lost sleep

Lost in all the discussion about child predators online is the much more widespread problem parents face: sleepless kids who stay up all night IM’ing friends and posting pictures instead of doing homework. Teachers report more sleepy students than ever, and with the addiction that is social networking, the problem will only get worse. So will its adult version, the CrackBerry addiction.

6) More bots

Finally, just because we’ve already talked extensively about the problem of bots doesn’t mean it can’t get any worse. In fact, it will. Virus writers are so good at their craft now that they can take control of a home computer, use it to commit crimes or send out spam and never be detected. As long as consumers are unaware that they are accomplices to a crime, they won’t do anything to stop it. Despite a few high-profile arrests and a concerted effort by the FBI to stop the problem (the “Bot Roast”), criminals will control more computers than ever next year.

-msnbc.com

Saudi blogger arrested, held without charges

Saudi Arabian officials have reportedly detained a blogger whose writing has criticized religious extremism in the country, according to the two press freedom groups and a regional human-rights organization.

Blogger and IT professional Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan, 32, was taken into custody on December 10, the Committee to Protect Journalistsreported on Wednesday. His Arabic-language site now has a “Free Fouad” banner in English across the top.

In a letter sent to friends shortly before his arrest, al-Farhan wrote that he had been told that the interior ministry was investigating him and would pick him up within two weeks. At the time he described the worst case as being jailed for three days, but he was still being held without charge as of Friday, according to Joel Campagna, Middle East program coordinator for the CPJ in New York.

Al-Farhan’s blog promotes political reform and bears the tagline, “Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, Shura and all the remaining Islamic values which are missing,” along with a dedication to his daughters, according to a report on the website of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. Some of his more critical commentary has dealt with the question of religious extremism, Campagna said. Al-Farhan also recently posted a blog item criticizing ten well-known personalities who have close ties to the Saudi royal family, he said.

The Saudi government heavily censors Internet content, both political criticism and pornography, Campagna said. Contentious news or political commentary sites are frequently blocked.

-PCWorld.com

Abbas, Olmert move on despite Jerusalem

Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed Thursday to put aside a dispute over Israeli construction in a Jerusalem neighborhood and get down to work on a final peace agreement, according to participants in the two sides’ first meeting since relaunching peace talks at a U.S.-hosted Mideast summit last month.

The two-hour meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appeared to break an impasse that has clouded the renewed peacemaking, clearing the way for next month’s visit by President Bush.

“Beginning next week, final status negotiations will be resumed,” said Ahmed Qureia, the lead Palestinian negotiator.

“There was a joint desire to move forward, to make progress,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

Resolving the conflicting claims to Jerusalem is just one of the sensitive issues that negotiators must tackle during the coming year, along with the future of Israel’s West Bank settlements and the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees with their millions of descendants.

-msnbc.com

 

Benazir Bhutto assassinated

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday after addressing a large gathering of her supporters.

The suicide bomb attack also killed at least 22 others, doctors said. It was not immediately clear if Bhutto died from shots fired before the blast, or from wounds caused by bomb shrapnel.

Her body was removed from Rawalpindi General Hospital late Thursday night, about six hours after the assassination.

President Pervez Musharraf said the killers were the same extremists that Pakistan is fighting a war against, and announced three days of national mourning.

Video of the scene just moments before the explosion showed Bhutto stepping into a heavily guarded vehicle to leave the rally.

John Moore, a photographer for Getty Images, said he heard at least two gunshots before the bomb was detonated.

Police sources told CNN the bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, blew himself up near Bhutto’s vehicle.

Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital — less than two miles from the bombing scene — where doctors pronounced her dead.

Chaos erupted at the hospital when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived to pay his respects to Bhutto less than three hours after her death.

Hundreds of Bhutto supporters crammed into the entrance shouted and cried, some clutching their heads in pain and shock. Sharif called it “the saddest day” in Pakistan’s history. “Something unthinkable has happened,” he said.

Sharif said his party will boycott Pakistan’s January 8 parliamentary elections in the wake of the assassination.

Police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets in reaction to the death.

Rioters burned tires and blocked roads in Karachi and other cities, police sources said. Police fired on an angry mob, killing two people, in the city of Khairpur in the Sindh province, Geo TV reported.

Bhutto’s husband issued a statement from his home in Dubai saying, “All I can say is we’re devastated, it’s a total shock.”

President Bush said those responsible “must be brought to justice” and praised Bhutto as a woman who had “fought the forces of terror.” He said: “She refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country.”

-CNN.com

Patriots’ historic game to be available to all of America, after all

After weeks of insisting they wouldn’t cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots’ shot at history.Saturday night’s game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation’s homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.

The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.

“We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans,” commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course. “What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever.”

NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.

The NFL had claimed that the onus of making the game widely available fell on the major cable providers with which the league has bitterly feuded. Companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have declined to carry the network as part of basic packages.

But lawmakers have pressured the NFL to ensure more viewers could see the game. Last week, two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell threatening to reconsider the league’s antitrust exemption.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who co-wrote the letter with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was “delighted” by the NFL’s concession.

“I think it was a smart move on their part,” he said in a phone interview.

Leahy expected to speak with Goodell again next month about the ongoing question of how many fans will be able to see games on the channel. Saturday’s matchup wraps up the NFL Network’s second season of airing live contests, with eight per year. This one and a key Thursday night game between Green Bay and Dallas last month drew widespread complaints about the lack of availability.

“I never completely gave up hope, but I was getting a little discouraged Christmas afternoon when we still had not gotten a positive answer,” said Leahy, who added that his staff members were talking with NFL officials during the holiday.

Local TV affiliates in the Boston, Manchester, N.H., and New York areas that were already set to simulcast the game under NFL policy will still air it. That means viewers in those markets will have four channels to choose from if they get NFL Network.

That did not make officials at WWOR in New York happy.

“The NFL is in clear violation of their agreement with WWOR/My9,” the station said in a statement. “We fully expect the league to honor their commitment to My9 as the exclusive free over-the-air broadcaster for Saturday’s telecast of the New England Patriots at New York Giants game.”

In a statement, NFL Network spokesperson Seth Palansky said: “We are in the process of reviewing the situation as it relates to Channel 9.”

According to Palansky, there have been no complaints from the Boston market.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had urged cable and NFL executives to settle the dispute, had a much more positive reaction to the league’s announcement.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled that as the Patriots rush toward an historic undefeated season, football fans everywhere have won a victory of their own,” Kerry said. “With today’s announcement, the NFL showed their loyalty to the sports fans who made the NFL an empire in the first place.

“The best news of all is that now no die-hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history,” Kerry said in a statement.

This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.

-Yahoo.com

Wii bowler beats real bowler in senior videogame tourney

Proving once again that athleticism and real-world experience have little bearing on the outcome of Wii Sports matches, a 79-year-old bowler was defeated by an 84-year-old who’d only recently picked up the game — virtually — in their retirement community’s latest Nintendo tournament. Obviously a popular pastime among the senior crowd, playing Wii has gotten so big at the 3000-resident Riderwood complex in Montgomery County, Maryland that semi-regular tournies are held in the various events, with underdog Nancy Davies upsetting previous champ Hal Winters in the most recent excitement-filled Bowling final. When asked to comment on the 202 to 182 stunner, the few other residents who were both awake at the time and able to remember the action agreed that the match was surely one for the record books.

-Engadget.com

IBM Dishes Five Predictions for Future

Drained by your commute? Blood-sucking utility bills got you down? Wondering if that tomato in your dinner salad was really organic?

The cures to those ills and more may arrive within five years, according to IBM.

The company recently released its second annual set of “Next Five in Five” predictions, visions that sketch out a future where driving is a relative pleasure, eco-friendly devices save you money and super doctors use advanced technology to probe your body’s innermost depths in search of disease.

IBM’s contention that driving will become safer and less aggravating may be particularly tantalizing for many.

The company said that during the next five years, a “wave of connectivity” between vehicles and roadways will help keep traffic flowing smoothly, drive down pollution and get you to your destination easier, “without the stress.”

This will be accomplished through “intelligent” traffic systems that automatically adjust light patterns and shift traffic to alternative routes, as well as cars that exhibit “reflexes” thanks to communication with other vehicles and roadside sensors, according to IBM.

The company’s crystal ball also revealed that the long-simmering trend toward “smart energy” devices will proliferate wildly. “Dishwashers, air conditioners, house lights, and more will be connected directly to a ’smart’ electric grid, making it possible to turn them on and off using your cell phone or any Web browser,” a company statement asserts.

Even the act of eating will take on new meaning, in IBM’s view: “You will know everything from the climate and soil the food was grown in, to the pesticides and pollution it was exposed to, to the energy consumed to create the product, to the temperature and air quality of the shipping containers it traveled through on the way to your dinner table.”

The report also suggests that doctors’ ability to heal us will become even more astounding. Due to advances in X-ray and audio technologies, doctors will gain “superpowers,” according to IBM. Computers will also be able to compare your health data to an ocean’s worth of other patient records, helping with diagnosis and treatment, the company said.

In addition, the company said cell phones will continue to grow in power and functionality. For example, phones will enable users to snap a photo of an article of clothing, pull in results from the Web about the brand and where to buy it, and then render the garment on top of a 3-D image of the user, IBM said.

IBM’s list received a measured nod from Edward Cornish, editor of The Futurist magazine and past president of the World Future Society, an organization based in Bethesda, Maryland.

“Basically, the five forecasts seem to me to be quite reasonable,” Cornish said. “They’re based on technologies that have been around for a number of years and are simply extrapolations.”

-PCWorld.com