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Filed under: Fun, iPhone, Humor

Five apps for the stoner and stoner at heart

There's no shortage of what you can find on the app store. Sure, applications like Google Voice have been pulled, but Apple is totally okay with customers using their iPhones for...other hobbies. Come on, free phone calls or the nearest marijuana dispensaries - it's a no-brainer! A quick search through the Lifestyle section (well doesn't that say something) of the iTunes App Store yields a lot of results for the stoner in all of us:

Cannabis ($2.99)
This is a simle geo-location based application that'll help you find the nearest medicinal marijuana, doctors that are pro-marijuana and even attorneys for when the cop that just pulled you over isn't buying "I swear, I have never seen that in my life." If you find yourself in a state that hasn't legalized marijuana (erm, pretty much most of them) the map can tell you where to go to get involved in reform movements.

Crystal Bowl (Free)
An application based on the popular movie, Pineapple Express, this promises to be a "magical" experience. It's basically an eight ball that contains a host of "little nuggets of infinite wisdom" though I'm pretty sure some folks will find them funnier than others.

Just a side note, please remember that possession and/or use of marijuana remains illegal in many states. Always check your local laws and regulations before engaging in any activity like this...after all, there's an app for that!

Gallery: Stoner Apps

  • Cannabis
  • Crystal Bowl
  • CHRONIC-les
  • Herb Converter
  • Snoop Dog Soundboard

Read more →

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Web

California targets internet maps, seeks blurry buildings

Blurry schools
California lawmakers are considering legislation that would require online mapping services from companies including Google, Microsoft, and AOL to blur details of public buildings like schools, churches, hospitals, and government buildings.

The goal is to prevent terrorists from being able to obtain detailed images of buildings and surrounding areas by using Google Earth. But it's not like a terrorist or an amateur photographer couldn't just stand in front of these public buildings and snap their own photos, or use pictures already posed on internet photo sharing services like Flickr and Picasa.

Some companies have already taken steps to blur or remove sensitive information including detailed photos of military bases or pictures of shelters for abused women.

It's not clear if and when the California bill will come up for debate in the state Assembly. Just because a lawmaker introduces a bill doesn't necessarily mean it's going anywhere anytime soon.

Filed under: Business, Internet, VoIP

DOJ: No legislation for Network Neutrality

Along with the Web 2.0 movement came a huge push for Network Neutrality, a cause whose proponents demand that all access to the Internet occur as equally as possible. In other words, AT&T can't charge Google more to transfer a byte of data because Google has figured out a way to make more money off of AT&T's bandwidth than AT&T themselves can do.

Likewise, a cable Internet provider can't provide better bandwidth to users of its VoIP phone service than to non-using subscribers. That's the concept. The ideal? Make the Internet a great place for competing service providers to flourish.

In reality, Network Neutrality, or Netnoot, as some have taken to calling it, was a flawed concept from the beginning. DSL carriers already charge premium fees for preferential treatment by way of imposing often-arbitrary speed limits (768k DSL is more costly than 256k dsl, etc.) even when no technical reason exists to impose such limits. Plus, the big Internet providers who count among their customers gigantic bandwidth hogs like Google and MySpace are already gleaning more revenue from them than they are from Joe Bob's Bicycle Shop. So the folks who consume more already pay more. As such, consumers demand that, at least in matters of speed, the Internet be non-neutral.

Wise to these realities, the Department of Justice today announced that they will not be pursuing any further legislative attempts to regulate carrier activity on the Net. Good move. If people want to pay less for bandwidth or choose a different provider for phone service than for data access, they'll do it. We don't need laws to enforce what consumers already do.

Filed under: Internet, News

Legislation may stop Internet connection tax for good

ConnectionThis just in to our venerable news room here...the same guy who doesn't like bloggers (John McCain) is partially behind the legislation to stop Internet access from being taxed. Why, I have no idea. This legislation, if passed, would ensure that Internet access will remain cheaper and therefore more accessible to the American public. The Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act would also allow a grandfather clause to provide for the 12 states that have already instituted an Internet access tax, which I call the "not stepping on the states toes" clause. How permanent is permanent here, who knows. It would just be nice to have this law passed, so keep an eye out for this law if you're into this sort of thing.

Filed under: Internet

The Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006

Senator Ron WydenSo Verizon and every other mega-ISP think Google and other content providers are getting a free ride and should be paying on both ends and Comcast might be throttling Vonage to death, none of seems like a trend that's good for consumers, much less the future of the Internet. Luckily I'm not alone: U.S. senator from Oregon Ron Wyden has introduced the Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006, which the press is describing as the "net neutrality bill." From Russell Shaw's post on his ZDNet blog, the bill's key points are:
  • Preventing interfering with, blocking, degrading, altering, modifying or changing traffic on the Internet;
  • Prohibiting creation of a priority lane where content providers can buy quicker access to customers, while those who don’t pay the fee are left in the slow lane;
  • Allowing consumers to choose which devices they use to connect to the Internet while they are on the Internet;
  • Ensuring that consumers have non-discriminatory access and service;
  • Having a transparent system whereby consumers, Internet content, and applications companies have access to the rates, terms, and conditions for Internet service.
Senator Wyden seems like a very clueful guy who knows what kind of slippery slope Verizon and its ilk are about to create. He says, "I am not going to allow a network operator to say a person who buys online for J.Crew can stay on hold for five minutes, and where they make the Banana Republic customer wait 30 minutes." He intends to make his net neutrality bill part of a large telecom package that'll be making its way through the senate this year. Whether net neutrality will be able to overcome telecom's deep-pocketed lobbyists, however, is another question entirely. Head over to Shaw's blog for more quotes from Wyden and the full text of the bill.

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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