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Filed under: Internet, News

We call shenanigans: WiFi "allergies" do not exist, kiddies

God is WirelessOver the past few days there has been increasing furor over a claim made by some "electro-sensitive" folks in Santa Fe that wifi in public buildings violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. Because these people are electro-sensitive (and this sensitivity can be to all sorts of electromagnetic fields, in things like cell phones, or microwaves, or, we'd imagine, things like transformer stations and circuit boxes), they can't enter public buildings due to the horrible health effects they experience. These health effects range from chest pains, to leg numbness, to shortness of breath, and headaches.

Is wifi dangerous? Are cell phones dangerous? There is some debate about various cancers that may or may not result from having a cell phone pasted to your ear and your laptop constantly humming on your lap, but most cancers don't immediately cause things like, oh, chest pain, leg numbness, or shortness of breath. The verdict is still out on long term effects at this point anyway, and we take the stance that something is eventually going to kill us. Life is too short to live in constant fear, or without an internet connection.

Panic attacks cause the above symptoms. Generalized anxiety does as well. An "allergic" reaction to wifi? Eh.

We look at it this way. Right now, we're sitting in a residential area about eight miles outside of a major city. Turning on our wireless connection and sniffing around reveals eleven wifi networks in the area. Eleven that we could in theory connect with successfully, if they are unsecured. Eleven that are not blocked by things like walls, or doors, or tinfoil hats. We are not in a business district in a city.

Can you imagine the rogue wifi signals that are shooting around Santa Fe? Do the electro-sensitive people believe that wifi respects physical boundaries, and that walking by a coffee shop or public building with wifi is different than walking into one? If so, would they walk by a coffee shop with wifi while the door was open? Would the wireless, ahem, rush out the open door? Is there any place in the US where you can be in a city, or moderately populated town, and not be in range of some wireless signal?

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Filed under: Design, Macintosh, Apple

Apple Design Awards 2006 winners

Apple Design Awards 2006Today this year's winners of the annual Apple Design Awards were announced. The awards aim "to recognize technical excellence and outstanding achievement on Mac OS X" in eight categories. Here are the winners (uh, spoilers):
  • Best Developer Tool: TextMate 1.5.2
  • Best Use of OS X Graphics: modo 201
  • Best Dashboard Widget: iClip lite 2.0
  • Best Automator Workflow: Build Real Estate Catalog/Ultimate Productivity Action Pack 1.0
  • Best User Experience: iSale 3.1
  • Best Game: The Sims 2, 1.0 Rev E
  • Best Scientific Computing Solution: EnzymeX 3.1
  • Best Student Product: Lineform 1.1
You can go to the Apple Design Awards 2006 site for more information and the runners-up, which is mysterious absent of links, or you can head over to Phill Ryu's blog where he lists them all with links and some commentary on the award ceremony. Ryu runs Widget Machine and co-developed iClip lite (winner of Best Dashboard Widget above) with Inventive.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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