Bubbling Over

First it was your very own street light jammer. Now comes
something that interferes with cell phone usage by jamming
the frequencies it uses. I guess I’m behind the times, but I
did not know there are such things as cell
phone jammers. One model, the SH066PL2A/B, costs about
$300USD and has a range of about 30 feet (~9m). There are
others, including one that has a 100-ft (~30m) range. Now,
before anyone calls their lawyer, I’m not advocating
using one of these things because in the US
they are apparently illegal. I’m just saying they exist. What
you do with them are up to you. YMMV. Use at your own risk. Insert disclaimer here.

Flexing Old Muscles

One of the early professional grade single lens reflex
cameras was the Leica line of
cameras. If you were a photo-journalist in the 1950s you
were probably using a Leica, or wishing you could afford one.
Comes now the Leica
Digilux 2 that moves the venerable name into the 21st
century. As one might expect, given its heritage, there are
no automatic controls. That means focusing, aperture, shutter
speed, and focal length are all done manually. By forcing you
to use your brain to make these decisions, you are
potentially rewarded with images that few other cameras can
make. Obviously, this level of control is not necessarily for
the Sunday afternoon photographer. But if you know what you
are doing, there are very few cameras, digital or otherwise,
that offer you more control over what the final image will
look like. Oh, if you have to ask how much it costs you can’t
afford it (nor can you get it until February of next year -
ed).

Where Do You Want to be Towed Today?

I saw something on TV recently that said the computer
systems in new cars were getting so complicated that they
were crashing on a regular basis. No, I don’t mean the cars
were running into windows (pun intended). Rather, the systems
would shut the car down due to bugs in the software. So I
guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the company that wanted
to put a Windows PC in every home now wants to put one in
every garage.

This story from Yahoo News says Microsoft operating
systems are already running in 23 different car models. This
includes the BMW 7 series, Daimler, Volvo, and Toyota. It’s
too easy to make a snide remark about having to reboot your
car to get it to run but there you go.

Tell Us It Ain’t So

Boeing aircraft had a reputation for building robust products. Indeed, more than one has flown with parts of the wing
missing or with the top peeled off. But the one thing Boeing
may not survive is bad management. This Slate
article lays out the dirty details on how management
worked using two driving values: greed and hubris. It is
indeed a sad tale to see Boeing spiraling down to 40 percent
of market share. It is even more frightening to read that it
could be out of the commercial market within 10 years.

Things at work are, as fellow Daynoter Sjon put it
“normal.” As in situation normal, all fouled up. So I gotta
go. But before I go, congratulations to Daynoter John
Doucette in his recent marriage. Congratulations and best
wishes to John and Emma.

Aloha!