“Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday.”

link: Obese have right to 2 airline seats: Canada court

This may be a precedent in civil litigation that other airlines will have to follow. One person is only charged one fare. Kudos to the Canadian Courts.

Catherine Forsythe

“Ziff Davis Media announced Wednesday that it was ending print publication of its 27-year-old flagship PC Magazine and would take the title online-only.

It is the latest of several magazine publishers to drop a print edition, as advertising plummets and the cost of printing a paper version rises.”

link: PC Magazine says it’s going online-only

It is a matter of survival for PC Magazine. Advertisers will go where there are the most views - and that is the internet. Perhaps, in the future, when you show people your saved editions of PC Magazine, you will have to remind them that there was a time when magazines and newspapers were how people communicated - in the old days.

Catherine Forsythe

You are not wasting time. You are developing skills:

“…”It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, lead researcher on the study, “Living and Learning With New Media.”

“But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”"

link: All those hours teens spend on Web aren’t wasted

So if you are a teenager, bookmark the article. The next time your parents start the discussion about how much time you spend online, please tell them they are interrupting your development of critical literacy skills. And, of course, you are looking at Hot or Not to develop your appreciation of fine photography.

Catherine Forsythe

“… “There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses,” Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

“It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious.”"

link: Big Three auto CEOs flew private jets to ask for taxpayer money

Most people in the general public would have been pleased with a round trip ticket from Detroit to Washington. The comparisons would be a five to six hundred round trip ticket versus twenty thousand dollars for a private jet.

With the story in the international media, it is a public relations nightmare. These are business executive going to Washington to ask for public money. The majority of the contributors to these public funds do not fly in private jets. It is a matter of perception. It leaves ‘John and Jane Q. Public’ a picture of business executives who are so out-of-touch with the common man. These executives fly in private jets. They do not stand at the self serve gas station and watch the pump prices. They do not consider what groceries might not be necessary in order to save a few dollars. They do not worry that perhaps the very next family illness may trigger a personal financial meltdown. We do.

Catherine Forsythe

“…The magazine announced on Tuesday that its first game, “Herod’s Lost Tomb,”would come out this month ahead of the December 2008 issue which features an article on the biblical figure known for his architectural exploits.

The game will be available for free online at nationalgeographic.com/channel and will also be downloadable for PCs, Macs and iPhones, National Geographic said in a statement.”

link: National Geographic discovers videogames

The goal will be to have National Geographic branded products on familiar gaming venues like Nintendo and PlayStation. It is an innovative way for National Geographic to reach a gaming audience and, ultimately, develop interest in its publication. It also demonstrates that even established publications such as National Geographic must modify and extend its business model in order to survive. Relying on past quality just won’t do.

Catherine Forsythe

“…Scientists in California have developed a software algorithm that automatically creates a physical key based solely on a picture of one, regardless of angle or distance. The project, called Sneakey, was meant to warn people about the dangers of haphazardly placing keys in the open or posting images of them online.”

link: How a camera can ’steal’ your keys

There may be some people reading this and thinking that soon keys will be obsolete. It will be some biometric identifier, like your iris, finger print or scent that releases locks. Keys will be very ‘old fashioned’.

Catherine Forsythe

“BEIJING — As Americans consume more food prepared outside the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration opened its first overseas office Wednesday in China with others planned around the globe.

The move comes after the FDA last week ordered Chinese food products to be stopped at the U.S border until testing proves they are free of melamine, a chemical added to baby formula earlier this year that sickened thousands of Chinese infants.”

link: FDA opens office in China

In theory, this is a prudent strategy. However, this will require an increase in staffing and in budgeting. The FDA will require additional funding in a staggering economy and during a time when the federal government must spend prudently.

Another point to consider is that the FDA has limited authority in a country such as China. The Chinese government will control the data to which the FDA has access. It will be an exercise in diplomacy as much as it is in product security. The potential for an international faux pas is enormous.

Catherine Forsythe

“…”I can’t be more clear than to say you not only let us down by reneging on your commitment to stand behind the [device driver model] requirement, you have demonstrated a complete lack of commitment to HP as a strategic partner and cost us a lot of money in the process,” said one e-mail from Richard Walker, the senior vice president of HP’s consumer business unit, to Jim Allchin and Kevin Johnson. At the time, the two were co-presidents of Microsoft’s platforms and services unit, which oversaw Vista.”

link: HP to Microsoft: Thanks for Nothing

These court documents reveal who knew what and when concerns were raised. It provides a timeline for the sake of accountability. In following the developments of this case and the readiness of Vista, one is left with a basic query: “where is the concern for the customer using this product?“. That question used to be fundamental.

Catherine Forsythe

“…It will stop selling OneCare, its all-in-one security and PC management service, from the end of June 2009.

The new software, code-named Morro, will be a no-frills program suited to smaller and less powerful computers.”

link: Microsoft to offer free security

I asked a chief executive of a prominent software company if this offering would be considered a business threat to software security firms. His answer was that it might be the case in the long long long term. It is always a possibility. However he reminded me that Internet Explorer was free but people sought out alternatives. When the Opera browser was not free, many people were willing to pay to avoid the Microsoft product. He just considers Microsoft another competitor - arriving late in the security niche.

Catherine Forsythe

“Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.”

link: LIFE photo archive hosted by Google

It is another step for Google in digitizing and indexing the world’s information. This Life images presentation is simply stunning.

Catherine Forsythe