Archive for the ‘california’ Category

Voting Machines With Disappearing Logs Finally Under Investigation [Voting]

We knew how you could hack a voting machine, but California has discovered that some of its machines practically invite you to play. Machines made by Premier Election Solutions are finally under investigation for their faulty, omissive, easily alterable logs.

The center of the investigation is the log design which allows “election official or someone else to delete votes without leaving an electronic trail.” But according to a previous statement by Justin Bales, general service manager of the company making the machines, it’s not so much a flaw in design as it is in planning:

We never . . . intended for any malicious intent and not to log certain activities,” Bales said. “It was just not in the initial program, but now we’re taking a serious look at that.

Whatever the cause or reason, at least new versions of the voting machines include more comprehensive logs as well as safeguards against alterations, but it’s about damn time the previous ones are being investigated. [Wired]

Green: California getting closer to banning power-hungry TVs

Uh oh, another vaguely political post on CrunchGear. As you already know, the Consumer Electronics Association, the trade group that organizes CES, is fighting tooth and nail against possible regulations that would see California essentially ban the sale of power-hungry HDTVs. This mostly affects plasmas because they consume the most electricity of the different types of TVs out there.

The California Energy Commission, the body responsible for the investigation, says certain types of TVs ought not to be sold because they consume just too much electricity. As a matter of fact, TVs account for 10 percent of all energy consumption in the state. Mandate that manufacturers get their act together, and create TVs that don’t require crazy amounts of electricity to run, and everyone wins: consumers pay less for their monthly electricity bill (consumers would save, on average, $30 in the first year by switching to more energy efficient TVs), the green crowd gets to feel like it’s saving the planet, California doesn’t have to spend money generating all that electricity, etc.

Well, one group may not benefit: the manufacturers themselves. Some of them are complaining that having THE GOVERNMENT mandate how efficient their TVs need to be will stifle innovation, raise prices (because they’ll have to change their manufacturing methods or whatever), etc. (I say, if not the government, then who, the “market”? Ha! Markets work when everyone has access to perfect information, among other things, otherwise things can get out of hand. See: this past year on Planet Earth.)

The Commission disputes the idea that changing energy standards will necessarily raise prices for consumers.

You should note that Vizio, the little company that came out of nowhere, has no problem with the new regulations, should they pass. Easy for it to say, seeing as though it makes only LCDs, which aren’t very power hungry.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a done deal yet. You’re not going to walk into Best Buy tomorrow and find that all the plasmas are gone. Should it even pass then I imagine it’ll take some time before it actually affects your buying ability.

California Cool Cars Block the Sun, Cellphones and GPS [Cellphones]

The metal oxide coating California’s “Cool Cars” regulation mandates for car windows starting in 2010 doesn’t just reflect sunlight—it also bounces the signals for cellphones, GPS navigators and, um, parolees’ ankle bracelets, making reception noticeably crappier.

Which, I suppose, is one way to kill two birds with a single government-tossed stone: people won’t be texting while driving because they can’t get a decent signal anywhere, and cars will have a smaller carbon footprint since they won’t get as hot. The whole GPS navigators sucking and not being able to accurately track parolees is a different problem for a different day, really.

The car manufacturers, for their part, would prefer a coating that absorbs energy, instead of reflects it, which they say would leave wireless signals unmangled, but I bet slightly warmer. [Detroit News via TUAW]

California Cool Cars regs put the kibosh on radio, cellphone, and GPS reception

We’ve seen plenty of tech over the years meant to mitigate our destruction of the environment — from greener autos to Grateful Dead-themed cellphones — most of which don’t really ask us to tone down our consumer impulses all that much. But how about these new “Cool Cars” regulations recently adopted by the California Air Resources Board? By the year 2016, all autos sold in the state must have windows that prevent 60 percent of the sun’s energy from entering the vehicle. To achieve this, windows are given a coat of glazing that contains microscopic specs of reflective metal oxide — which will seriously hamper reception for your GPS, cellphone, and (this is of special interest to Engadget readers) white collar criminal-style work release ankle bracelet. As you can imagine, companies like Garmin are fuming — although we suppose that if they play this right they can make a killing in the external car antenna business. It just goes to show you — when it comes to environmental catastrophe, everyone’s a victim.

[Via AutoBlog]

Filed under: Transportation

California Cool Cars regs put the kibosh on radio, cellphone, and GPS reception originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: elaborate multi-camera rig elegantly captures giant redwood tree

For anyone who’s taken a cruise down the Avenue of the Giants or went looking for Stormtroopers within Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park, you’re apt to feel a great deal of appreciation for the image just after the break. Michael Nichols, a National Geographic photographer, rigged up a ridiculous camera setup that was strategically lowered from the top of a 300-foot tree to the ground in order to get an astoundingly tall (and downright breathtaking) shot. Oh, and while you’re gawking at the pixels down there, feel free to mash play on that video to see how it all came together.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Video: elaborate multi-camera rig elegantly captures giant redwood tree

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Video: elaborate multi-camera rig elegantly captures giant redwood tree originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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