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This figure shows the energy density and the power density of nano vacuum tubes in comparison to other energy storage devices. Credit: H?bler and Osuagwu. (PhysOrg.com) -- Physicists theorize that quantum phenomena could provide a major boost to batteries, with the potential to increase energy density up to 10 times that of lithium ion batteries. According to a new proposal, billions of nanoscale capacitors could take advantage of quantum effects to overcome electric arcing, an electrical breakdown phenomenon which limits the amount of charge that conventional capacitors can store. In their study, Alfred Hubler and Onyeama Osuagwu, both of the...

Even the cable networks that are today’s multi-revenue stream darlings are destined for the same “digital destruction” as advertising-supported broadcast television, newspapers and other traditional media. It’s just a matter of time. That likely scenario from former News Corp. president and COO Peter Chernin, represents the final blow to media conglomerates. which currently rely on their cable networks for at least 60 percent of their profits. Whether niche cable programming can survive and thrive in a streaming on-demand video world “is the single biggest question facing the media industry,” Chernin said Wednesday during a roundtable discussion USC Annenberg School for...

Simple poll question today: Did you make the switch to digital television? A Daily Poll.

  Make no mistake: I do not merely hate computers. I loathe, fear, despise, curse, and have constant torture and dismemberment fantasies about them. I know there are others out there like me, an entire unorganized underground. I've talked to some of them, in conspiratorial whispers. We are not cyberterrorists -- viruses hurt us more than anyone else. But we need a support network. We need a manifesto.   This isn't it.   The university that employs me gave every one of its nearly 1,000 professors a free computer. Having had no luck with IBM PCs in the past, I...

The long-awaited switch from analog to digital TV took place last Friday, and if you're like most people, you weren't aware of it. But if you are poor and/or stupid, you've probably had a rough weekend. "Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts that occurred Friday. About a third of the calls were about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes." Does that really say, "federal coupons for digital converter boxes?" "The largest volume of calls came from the Chicago area..."...

LOS ANGELES - Nearly 700,000 calls were received by a federal hot line this week from people confused about the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV broadcasts that occurred Friday. The Federal Communications Commission said Saturday that about 317,450 calls went into the help line, 1-888-CALL-FCC, on Friday alone, the day analog signals were cut off. About a third of the calls were about federal coupons to pay for digital converter boxes, an indication that at least 100,000 people still didn't have the right equipment to receive digital signals.

The big DTV moment is here - like New Year's Eve, labor pains or the millennium.. For once, a technology change is not driven by the youn. Senior citizens are the most prepared, according to Neilsen. Yes, the old folks rule.

Once upon a time (at the zenith of 20th century analog media), maintaining an on-site, in-house library crammed full of archived periodicals and rows and rows of hefty, solemn reference books, was all the rage at large media organizations. In 2009, not so much. Today, yet another bricks-and-mortar media bibliothèque fell victim to the digital age. This afternoon, in an email to his staff, David Westin, the president of ABC News, announced that ABC News will be converting its existing research library on the second floor of its 47th street building into a smaller, more cyber-focused "Digital Research Facility." "Our...

<p>Last week, an auction for a book by Capt. Richard Phillips, the merchant-ship hero who saved his crew from pirates, drew top bids of around $500,000—half the seven-figure advance it had been expected to fetch.</p> <p>At least that book had bidders. In February, the William Morris Agency failed to find any takers for a Britney Spears memoir.</p>

The head of America's National Security Agency says that America needs to build a digital warfare force for the future, according to reports. Lt Gen Keith Alexander, who also heads the Pentagon's new Cyber Command, outlined his views in a report for the House Armed Services subcommittee. In it, he stated that the US needed to reorganise its offensive and defensive cyber operations. The general also said more resources and training were needed. The report, part of which was outlined in an Associated Press news agency story, is due to be presented to the subcommittee on Tuesday. During the past...

Many states are looking for ways to increase their tax revenue by taxing purchases made online. This extends to third party solicitors located in another state. Our Constitution infers that states are restricted from enacting laws that burden or restrict interstate commerce. Let’s stop this tax now.

"....This technology is about to be used, albeit in a more subtle fashion, against American citizens in a highly classified and covert operation to mind control and manipulate the entire population into ‘compliance’ with our New World order overlords. The technology will utilize a combination of HAARP transmitters, GWEN towers, microwave cell phone towers, and the soon-to-be-mandatory High Definition Digital TV that will enter your home via: a) cable, b) satellite, c) HD TVs, or d) those oh-so-easy-to-obtain “digital converter boxes” that the government is so anxious to help you obtain and underwrite most of the cost on your...

Neil Schield knows the grim state of the music business as well as anyone; last May, he was laid off from a company at the vanguard of digital music distribution. But this month, Schield began an unlikely second act: He opened a brick-and-mortar record store in Echo Park, with racks of tasteful inventory carrying price tags as high as $100 -- all presumed liabilities in an age when "digital" and "free" seem to rule the day. For added chutzpah, Schield's shop, Origami Vinyl, exclusively stocks new vinyl LPs, presumed not long ago to be as dead as eight-track tapes. Moreover,...

I'm looking to purchase a small digital camera and need feedback from FReepers. Experiences, likes,dislikes, models, makes......

The digital transition has left some confused, but a Joplin man was down right frustrated with the switch. So frustrated, in fact, that he peppered his television set with gunfire. Police responded to the man's house Wednesday after reports of shots being fired inside. Turns out the 70-year-old gunman was livid over losing cable and could not get his digital converter box to work. Police took Walter Hoover into custody after a brief standoff and charged him with unlawful use of a firearm. Hoover's wife told police that he had been drinking before the incident.

DTV Transition Partially Occurs, World Doesn't End Federal call center easily handles user calls, problems... 05:58PM Thursday Feb 19 2009 by Karl Bode About 421 of the nation's roughly 1,800 stations made the transition to digital broadcasts on the originally scheduled date (February 17), and so far the world has continued rotating. Fears that consumers weren't ready for the switch resulted in Congress extending the deadline into June, though TV stations were given the right to cut over ahead of the deadline -- as long as they got permission from the FCC. According to the Associated Press, the Federal call...

The House of Representatives Thursday voted to postpone the country's shift from analog to digital TV broadcasts until June 12. TV stations are scheduled to shut off their analog, over-the-air signals on Feb. 17. Many Democrats contended that millions of consumers were still not prepared for the switch. Older TV sets that aren't equipped or modified to receive digital signals will go dark once the transition occurs. The Senate twice okayed a delay, most recently on Jan. 29 Thursday's House vote was 264-158. A majority of House members voted last week to push back the implementation of digital TV. But...

It's hard for the hillbilly to say goodbye to certain things. Like the rims off the tire of some 1970s-era muscle car that rusts in the front yard. Or the old lady moo-moo, a fashion style that slips easily from the bedroom to caseworker waiting room. Some hillbillies have a hard time saying goodbye to people. That's why the Protection From Abuse, or the PFA, order was invented. But, nothing has been harder to say goodbye to than analog television.

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - An effort to delay the Feb. 17 deadline for a nationwide switch to digital television failed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday after Republicans blocked the move. The legislation is backed by President Barack Obama and already passed the U.S. Senate. However, it failed to gain the required two-thirds support in the House under special rules adopted for the vote.

WASHINGTON – The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 — setting the stage for Congress to pass the proposal as early as Tuesday. Monday's Senate vote is a big victory for the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress, who have been pushing for a delay amid growing concerns that too many Americans won't be ready for the currently scheduled Feb. 17 changeover. The Nielsen Co. estimates that more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast...

<p>WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is urging Congress to postpone the Feb. 17 switch from analog to digital television broadcasting, arguing that too many Americans who rely on analog TV sets to pick up over-the-air channels won't be ready.</p>

A pair of call centers logged around 900 calls yesterday, but organizers of Hawaii's early switch to digital TV are calling the mission a success. The state shut off analog TV yesterday at noon, and did so with what appears to be a manageable level of issues from viewers. "There were no major surprises," says Hawaii Association of Broadcasters President Chris Leonard. There was a wide range of questions from viewers, some wondering how to hook up their converter boxes and some wondering why they weren't receiving a signal. Despite the state's-and the nation's-considerable efforts to spread the DTV message,...

The Obama Transition Team released today the new official portrait of President-elect Barack Obama, to be hung in federal office buildings from Limestone, Maine, to Wasilla, Alaska (and on to Honolulu, natch) after he takes the oath of office on January 20.

President-elect Barack Obama, as part of the effort to revive the economy, has proposed a massive effort to modernize health care by making all health records standardized and electronic. Here's the audacious plan: Computerize all health records within five years. The quality of health care for all Americans gets a big boost, and costs decline. Sounds good. But it won't be easy. In fact, many hurdles stand in the way. Only about 8% of the nation's 5,000 hospitals and 17% of its 800,000 physicians currently use the kind of common computerized record-keeping systems that Obama envisions for the whole nation....

Consumers Union is urging Congress to delay the nation's transition to digital television, saying the program to help TV viewers prepare for the switch next month has been underfunded and poorly implemented. In a letter sent last night to President Bush, President-elect Barack Obama, House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), the consumer advocacy group said Congress should push back the transition "until a plan is in place to minimize the number of consumers who will lose TV signals." The request comes two days after the federal government said it...

The Federal Communications Commission sponsored a Nascar race car as part of its effort to inform Americans that on Feb. 18, television signals transmitted over the air will be transmitted solely in digital format. Old TV sets will no longer work. It paid $350,000 to emblazon “The Digital TV Transition” and other phrases on a Ford driven by David Gilliland. So how’s that going? In November, the car crashed during a Nascar race in Phoenix. It was the second crash in as many months. And how is the digital TV transition going? According to critics, about as well, despite a...

Boston’s broadcast TV viewers can find out if their tubes are ready for next year’s digital switch on Tuesday when more than two dozen local stations and cable providers take part in “DTV Day.” Old-style analog TV sets that aren’t hooked up to cable - think rabbit ear antennas - won’t get a picture come Feb. 17 unless they’re hooked up to a converter box. Cable and satellite customers won’t be affected by the digital switch. Viewers can find out if their TVs are digital ready by turning to WGBH-TV (Ch. 2) from 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. If their...

...Then God your Father spoke, "It won't be long now children before your televisions will be completely useless and that they'll contain The Chip..."

Since MP3s first became popular a decade ago, music industry executives have obsessed over this question: when would digital music revenue finally surpass compact disc sales? For Atlantic Records, the label that in years past has delivered artists like Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Led Zeppelin, that time, apparently, is now. Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones. “We’re like a...

(IsraelNN.com) As part of its ongoing jihad against Israel, the Hamas terrorist organization has adopted a new mission, recently unveiled at its booth at a digital communications exhibition in Iran: hacking Israeli websites. A new Hamas-affiliated group, calling itself "The Digital Intifada," introduced itself in late October at the second annual National Exhibition and Festival of Digital Media in Tehran, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC). The objective of "The Digital Intifada" is to develop anti-Jewish websites and encourage the criminal hacking of Israeli governmental and non-governmental websites. At...

British Pop Stars Form Group to Demand More Power Saturday, October 4, 2008 1:30 PM LONDON -- Some of Britain's biggest music stars announced Saturday they are banding together to demand greater control over their music in the digital age. Radiohead, Robbie Williams and Kaiser Chiefs are among more than 60 founding members of the Featured Artists' Coalition. The group says it wants musicians rather than record labels to retain control over the rights to their music. It says new technology is rapidly changing the music industry, and artists are often left out when their songs are distributed over the...

MAURICE SKLAR MINISTRIES Buy Postage Seven Signs of the Times Maurice Sklar Mar 12 2007 05:21PM 1. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes...

Pope Benedict will text message thousands of young Catholics on their mobile phones during World Youth Day in Sydney in July, hoping going digital will help him connect better with a younger audience. The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site akin to a Catholic Facebook. The Catholic Church said it decided to use technology to connect to the estimated 225,000 young Catholics expected to attend the World Youth Day (WYD)...

WASHINGTON (AP) - For months, TV viewers have been told by government, by industry and by the media that if they already subscribe to cable, there's no need to worry about the coming transition to digital broadcasting. So cable customer Doris Spurk was surprised to learn that thanks to the transition, she would have to rent a converter box for $5.95 per month, per television set, plus pay for a $60 service call to install it. With five televisions in her home, the conversion would increase her bill by 75 percent. "It really ticks us off," the 63-year-old central Florida...

SAN FRANCISCO – Most people gave up on their vinyl music collection two decades ago, when compact discs all but nudged LPs off store shelves for good. If you held onto any favorites, DJ equipment maker Numark Inc. is looking to breathe new life into them with a USB-equipped turntable. It can pipe the tunes of yesteryear into your computer, where you can store them in digital form – or load them onto a media player and take them on the road. The Numark TTX USB ($399) is a sturdy, DJ quality turntable with well-fashioned components and nice styling. Nothing...

"What's shocking about the report isn't what it covers (or that Ars is cited in footnotes 126 and 211), but what it leaves out: it doesn't contain a single extended discussion of the fact that the US has been slipping in a worldwide broadband rankings throughout the decade. That hugely significant fact doesn't mean that the current approach isn't working or that the US is becoming a Luddite paradise, but it does suggest that there are other approaches to be considered, approaches that have proved successful in real-world conditions. As broadband continues to be a key driver of economic opportunity...

Digital photo frames containing malware have been found, heads up! http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3807 http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=3787

LAS VEGAS - Best Buy Inc.'s chief executive said Tuesday that he is "very nervous" about being able to supply customers with the millions of digital TV converter boxes needed ahead of the shutdown of most analog TV transmissions in 13 months. "I think it's one of the biggest risks our industry has," vice chairman and CEO Brad Anderson told an industry audience at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Full-power television stations will turn off their analog signal on Feb. 17, 2009, after which they will broadcast in digital only. Viewers who receive their signals through an...

Hey fellow FReepers. My camera, the Canon Powershot A540 has decided to bite the dust after 13 months. I strongly suspect abuse by spouse and possibly being used as a hand grenade by a 1 year old. So, I need a new camera. $200 top budget. Will be used to take pics of kids. Lots of indoor shots. Lots of outdoor shots. Maybe even some action shots. What I want. 7MP. 3x zoom, but prefer 4x or better. Here is where my language will say what I mean, but not in proper "camera" world terms. I want the flash to...

Border broadcasters fret over digital switchFree stations in Mexico may mean many viewers won't convert sets By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Dec. 21, 2007, 11:39PM WASHINGTON — Broadcasters along the U.S.-Mexico border fear they will be at a competitive disadvantage when the U.S. switches to digital television in 2009 because residents can still pick up Mexican stations on old TVs. On Feb. 18, 2009, tens of millions of televisions that are not equipped to receive digital signals will no longer be able to receive programming. People in the U.S. with old televisions will have to buy converter boxes or subscribe...

When Adele Rothman bought her 16-year-old son a car in 2003, she made sure to pick one that had OnStar, the onboard communications and safety system. What the Scarsdale, N.Y., resident didn't know was that the OnStar system in the car was already doomed to die. The federal government decided in 2002 to let cellular carriers shut down analog cell phone networks, used by Rothman's Saab and about 500,000 other OnStar-equipped cars, after Feb. 18, 2008.

Best Buy said today it has stopped selling analog televisions and pulled all remaining stock from its shelves, signaling the end of an era as consumers increasingly move toward digital products with flat-panel and high-definition screens.

On Feb. 18, 2009, tens of millions of televisions that are not equipped to receive digital signals will become useless pieces of furniture. The government is spending $5 million to let owners know so they can do something about it -- not enough, critics say. . . . John Kneuer, chief of the federal agency tasked with ensuring a smooth digital transition, told the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday that the government will be leaning heavily on broadcasters. . . . Some committee members were clearly worried. A poll released in January by the Association of Public Television Stations indicated...

What do Columbia, Vanderbilt, Duke and UCLA have in common? Apparently, leaders in Congress think they aren't expelling enough students for illegally swapping music and movies. The House committees responsible for copyright and education wrote a joint letter May 1 scolding the presidents of 19 major American universities, demanding that each school respond to a six-page questionnaire detailing steps it has taken to curtail illegal music and movie file-sharing on campus. One of the questions - "Does your institution expel violating students?" - shows just how out-of-control the futile battle against campus downloading has become.

Emerging digital technologies to move money instantaneously and anonymously open up new possibilities for criminals and terrorists, while regulatory and law-enforcement agencies are limping far behind. On May 3, at the release of the 2007 Money Laundering Strategy, the U.S. Treasury spokesperson was pleased to note: "Focusing on well-established money laundering methods and emerging trends identified in the Assessment, we have created a robust strategy for combating money laundering, deterring criminals, and addressing areas vulnerable to exploitation." Yet the latest digital advances open to criminals and terrorists -- mobile phones or other mobile devices to secretly transfer money globally, or...

Calls Hour 2, April 7 - 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment (Iowa National Guard), "Ironman" Battalion Hour 2, April 14 - 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division, "The Red Bulls," Hour 2, April 14 - Soldiers from Camp Victory, who are a part of the Multi National Corps, Iraq. "Americans will open their hearts and help if they know where and how to do it. That’s what we’re going to accomplish with Operation Komando." - Kim Komando. Now it's your turn to show your support for the troops working to protect our freedoms. They need everyday items...

I know there are some FReepers out there who know how to capture "stills" or freeze frame from digital video footage. I need to put together a series of photos for a 25 year anniversary "retrospective" musical performance. The goal is to try to capture some "action shots" of these musical performances from 25 yr. history of video footage and work them up into a Powerpoint presentation which we can project onto the auditorium theater wall for the upcoming 25th anniversary shows (3 shows in one weekend). Do I need to have any special software to do this video capture...

Songs sold through the iTunes music store can only be played on its iPod player, because of music industry demands, Jobs wrote in an essay posted on Apple's Web site today. If it were up to Jobs, Apple and all other digital music vendors would offer music in an unprotected format -- like that on CDs -- that could be played on any device on the market, he said.

This is a digital image of the moon, which was then overlayed onto another digital image of a star filled night sky. Click the following link to read the photographer's description and to get the hi-res 1600 x 1200 image. It makes a fantastic desktop wallpaper. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16822681

this New York Times photograph of a crowd of Lebanese refugees: This is probably nothing. If it’s photo manipulation, it’s certainly an incredibly mundane example, and I can’t think of a reason why anyone would do it. I’m tossing this to the lizardoid community for comment from the other photoshop geeks out there, without rendering any judgment yet. In other words, I am not saying this is a definite fake; I know we’ve got quite a few experts at digital manipulation among our readers, and I’m sincerely asking for their opinions. But look at the image of the man in...