Friday, April 29, 2011

Dutch Police Used TomTom's GPS Data To Nab Speeders

TomTom manufactures GPS navigation devices like this one from its competitor Garmin.
Enlarge Seth Perlman/AP

TomTom manufactures GPS navigation devices like this one from its competitor Garmin.

Seth Perlman/AP

TomTom manufactures GPS navigation devices like this one from its competitor Garmin.

Over the past week, U.S. consumers have been talking about their smart phones keeping tabs on their location. In the Netherlands, another kind of GPS scandal is brewing: The government bought aggregate global positioning system data from the automotive navigation company TomTom and then used it to install speed cameras in places where drivers are most likely to speed.

As the Wall Street Journal puts it, that's hardly an "enhancement its paying customers would appreciate."

Yesterday, TomTom's CEO Harold Goddijn put out a statement on YouTube, saying the company collects anonymous information to help build its intelligence about about traffic and routing. The company also sells the data to governments, he said, so they can improve safety, for example, and know where new roads need to be built.

Instead, the Dutch press reported, police in the Netherlands used the data to find stretches of roads where drivers were likely to break the speed limit and they installed speeding cameras in those places.

"We don't like that," said Goddijn, "because our customers don't like that. And we will prevent that type of usage of that data in the future."

The Wall Street Journal reports that TomTom also collects data from Vodafone mobile phone users. TomTom then sells that that real-time data service, which allows navigation around congestion, to its customers. For 50 euros a year that service also includes the ability for users to receive warnings about the locations of speeding cameras.

When this news hit, The Los Angeles Times reports, TomTom had just slashed its 2011 sales forecast. Mobile phones are quickly making GPS navigators less popular. TomTom, reports the Times, planned to "bolster slipping demand for GPS devices by focusing on services such as selling traffic data."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/28/135809709/dutch-police-used-tomtoms-gps-data-to-nab-speeders?ft=1&f=1049

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Working The Graveyard Shift, Fighting The Sandman

Joe Palca, science correspondent, NPR
Jeanne Duffy, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School

Air traffic controllers are hardly the only workers who struggle to stay awake while working overnight. Sleep researchers say that humans are not designed to be nocturnal, and that the body's clock can never fully adjust to night work.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/26/135741231/working-the-graveyard-shift-fighting-the-sandman?ft=1&f=5

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'Sun City Picture House' Brings Olivia Wilde, Maria Bello And A Love For Cinema To Haiti In This Exclusive Clip

Never let it be said that movies can't make a difference. Sure, the world of cinema is typically viewed as escapism at its finest?but you can never undervalue the need for that kind of pleasure, especially when the real world surrounding you is filled with horror and uncertainty at every turn.
That's the thought line at [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/04/26/sun-city-picture-house-olivia-wilde-maria-bello-video/

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Jennifer Lopez: Emme?s Fashion-Forward ? at 3!

"When I get ready for work we lay everything out ? the pants, shoes, earrings, belts," says Lopez. "[Emme] does that now in her room. She says, 'Okay, I need pants' and she'll say, 'That matches. I need a barrette.' It's crazy!"

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/qqipFulnyLo/

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Christina Aguilera on National Anthem Debacle: Caught Up in the Moment!


Give Christina Aguilera credit for taking it all in stride.

It's been a rough few months for the star, who's gotten divorced, been involved a melee with Julianne Hough, arrested for public drunkenness and more.

She also forgot the lyrics to the National Anthem before the Super Bowl, which was mortifying at the time, but she's shrugging it all off pretty well now.


Christina Aguilera on Ellen

Christina appeared on Ellen today to promote her new show (follow the link for a long preview for The Voice) and addressed the Star Spangled Bungle:

"I had been singing that song my entire life. I was the youngest anthem singer in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. I sang for The Steelers as a child."

"I think 7 or 8. I would sing for them. I think had a moment where I was at the Super Bowl at 30 years old. I took in the moment a little too much."

"Shoot me for appreciating the moment but here I am at the Super Bowl ... singing for my team and in front of the world. And remembering what it was like to be that young and look where I made it now. And then it was like, oh."

"That night I knew, I just made myself a Trivial Pursuit question ... In 2011 what female singer, ya know, flubbed the lyrics. It's just insane. But I have a really good laugh about it and you get over things. You get back up again."

"You just prove to yourself and to everyone you that much stronger."

Well put. Here's hoping she lives by that mantra in all facets of life.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/04/christina-aguilera-on-national-anthem-debacle-caught-up-in-a-mom/

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Playstation Network Outage Continues to Keep 70 Million PS3 Gamers Offline [PS3]

After days of intermittent service, the Playstation Network's complete outage rolls into its second day today with no new updates from Sony. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/x370a9ZLeH4/sony-playstation-outage-could-last-days

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A Robot Failed at Throwing the First Pitch at a Major League Baseball Game [Robots]

One of my life goals is to throw the first pitch at a Dodgers baseball game. I daydream about it regularly, actually. But the nerves! What if I miss the catcher or, gasp, one-bounce it across home plate? I don't think I could go home after that. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/04c86WAtEzU/a-robot-threw-the-first-pitch-at-a-major-league-baseball-game

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Make Money Online ? Internet Marketing for Learners | Sun Riserf ...

Internet marketing for beginners is somewhat of an oxymoron. This is because while in theory the concepts behind Internet marketing might be quite simple, executing effective strategies can be extremely difficult. This can even be tough for those who are quite experienced in the world of Internet marketing. With this in mind, this article will attempt to explain the concept of Internet marketing for beginners and will outline some basic strategies which can help a business owner to launch his own Internet marketing campaign. We will cover concepts such as creating a website, placing banner ads, sending out e-newsletters, orchestrating an email marketing campaign and optimizing your website for search engines.

One of the most basic steps for starting an Internet marketing campaign is to create a website. You need your own well designed website, so if you do not have one or you have a poorly designed one, get a well designed or consider re-designing your website. If you do not have experience in web design, there are a number of software packages which make it simple for those with no design experience to create a functional website. However, hiring a web designer is worthwhile because he can work to create a website which is attractive, functional and suitable to your products and series. He can also help you include more advanced features on your website. You can create your own professional, well designed website by yourself with our easy to use software how to make money online company.

Banner ads are another popular option for advertising your business on the Internet. Banner ads are advertisements which typically appear along the top of a website but it may also include smaller ads in other locations. Banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click on the advertisement. The ads when clicked on, redirects the user to your website. Carefully placing these ads on high traffic sites which attract visitor who may have interest in your products can be very effective for your advertisement campaign. You can make your own costumed and attractive banners with our simple to use software in our earn money from home company.

Next to placing of ads is sending out of e-newsletters to your visitors, it is also proven to be very effective. Basically, e-newsletters are emails which contain range of information including informative articles, valuable quizzes, relevant advertising or any other information which is deemed useful for the recipients of the e-newsletters. The significance of these newsletters is that they are viewed as adverts by the recipient which makes them very effective advertising source. Include some of your links and or soft sales peach in the content newsletters for effective results. Mind you, care has to be taken to keep these suggestions to absolute minimal so the e-newsletter is not viewed as spam by the recipient.

Email marketing campaign is also an effectual way of marketing your business online. Email marketing generally requires you sending out emails to prospective customers interested in your products and services. Care should be taken in sending out these emails to avoid sending emails which are unsolicited and will be viewed as spam. Preferably, you should only send out these emails to your email list subscribers. Also, make sure you provide valuable information in the emails as opposed to just filling them with adverts. You can achieve this by including tips and other helpful information which may be of interest to the recipient of the emails.

Finally, optimizing your website for search engines is a critical aspect of an Internet marketing campaign. Search engines rank websites according to quality and relevance for particular search terms. Many Internet users appreciate the effort by search engines and use these search engines to find the best websites on a particular subject. This means the Internet users are likely to only visit websites which rank well with search engines. For this reason, you will not get traffic from Internet users who use search engines to search for related websites if your website is not ranked high on the search engines. Website that rank high will obtain the most traffic from search engines and all websites on the first page of the search engine will have a better opportunity to increase the traffic to their site.

Source: http://www.sunriserf.com/sun-riserf-financial-info/3327

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