KC8DNE.com

This is a collection of technological developments coming together to a good result.

Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill lost both his legs above the knees when a bomb exploded under his Humvee while on patrol in Iraq on October 15, 2006. He has 32 pins in his hip and a 6-inch screw holding his pelvis together.

Now, he’s starting to walk again with the help of prosthetic legs outfitted with Bluetooth technology more commonly associated with hands-free cell phones.
“They’re the latest and greatest,” Bleill said, referring to his groundbreaking artificial legs.

Bleill, 30, is one of two Iraq war veterans, both double leg amputees, to use the Bluetooth prosthetics. Computer chips in each leg send signals to motors in the artificial joints so the knees and ankles move in a coordinated fashion. (Read more)

SOURCE: CNN

Here is an example for other states to follow.

The State of Oregon’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) received $250,000 from Governor Ted Kulongoski’s Strategic Reserve Fund to further develop and enhance a statewide Amateur Radio digital communications network, announced ARRL Oregon Section Manager Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ.

"This network, the Oregon ARES Digital Network (OADN), already uses a combination of different radio equipment and spectrum segments, computers and the Internet to provide a robust backup communications system in times of disaster. With its enhancements, all Oregon counties will be able to communicate with the state OEM," she said. "In December, this system proved its usefulness in the storms and floods by utilizing Winlink stations in Lincoln and Clatsop Counties to communicate with OEM. Early in that activation, the OEM’s Amateur Radio Unit found they were not able to keep up with maintaining a complete log of communications when using voice communications, but Winlink activities maintained an automatic log for them." (Read more)

Unlike people, dogs will not follow irrational leaders.

 — Jim Rutherford, dog trainer

Doug Kaye and Paul Figgiani of the Podcast Studio recorded a demonstration of how to get the best call quality with Skype. Although the demo is intended for users of Skype who want to record it for podcasting, for the most part, the info also applies to Echolink^TM and other voice over IP applications.

At long last, Amateur Radio is finally getting some favorable publicity for its public service activities. This is in contrast to its having been almost totally ignored for all of the September 11, 2001 contributions.

The Springfield (MO) News-Leader ran a well written article about the SKYWARN™ storm spotters who were activated in Southwest Missouri last week. It contains compliments from the National Weather Service and emergency management personnel.

In my continuing attempt to keep you current with the latest trends, you should be aware that traffic to video-sharing sites such as YouTube has doubled over the past year. Perhaps an even more interesting fact is that the number of women visiting the sites has also doubled.

According to the latest research by Pew Internet:

• 48% of internet users said they had ever visited a video-sharing site such as YouTube. A year ago, in December 2006, 33% of internet users said they had ever visited such sites. That represents growth of more than 45% year-to-year.
• 15% of respondents said they had used a video-sharing site “yesterday” — the day before they were contacted for our survey. A year ago, 8% had visited such a site “yesterday.” Thus, on an average day, the number of users of video sites nearly doubled from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007.
• Nearly a third of wired young adults (30%) watch a video on a site like YouTube on a typical day and fully a fifth of online men (20%) do the same.
  The percent of women who visit a video site on an average day jumped from 5% to 11%.
• The percent of those ages 30 to 49, whose use on a typical day increased from 7% to 14% (or an increase of 100%)
• The percent ofhigh school graduates, whose use on a typical day grew from 5% to 13% (or an increase of 160%).

High-speed, broadband Internet connections are partially responsible for the increase in popularity of the video sites. The survey found that 54% of all adults now have high-speed connections at home.

SOURCE: Pew Internet

I have been angry with the music industry for many reasons for many years. The latest reason is their utter stupidity when dealing with the issue of a new disribution medium. The shift to digital from the more easily controllable analog stuff was just too much for them to handle and they went totally berserk. Instead of developing a workable marketing plan, they just started suing people. Real smart, guys. Now everyone hates you.

There are things we all can learn from this debacle. Author and marketing guru Seth Godin hit the proverbial nail on the head with his blog post Music Lessons: Things you can learn from the music business (as it falls apart).

Those of you who know me know that I love boats and ships. Peggy and I have spent many happy hours watching and photographing the lakers and saltys as they passed under the Bluewater Bridge at Port Huron.

It always saddens me when another ship goes to the wrecker’s yard. The latest to go is the Calumet. Let us take a moment to mourn her passing.

The Muskegon Chronicle recently ran an excellent article about the old girl. The Boatnerd site has two pages about her history with lots of pictures. Great Lakes Fleet Page Vessel Feature on the Calumet and Pictures of the Calumet’s final voyage.

If you live in the Southeastern Michigan area, don’t forget to put a mark on your calendar to remind yourself of the 2008 ARAY / GCARES Ham Radio Swap. It is coming up on Saturday the 19^th of January. It runs from 8AM to 12PM at the Bentley Middle School, 1180 N. Belsay Road in Burton MI. For information call Greg N8HXQ at 810.736.2126, or e-mail him at n8hxq@ARRL.net.

You can download a PDF file to print out a flyer.

The Federal Communications Commission will investigate complaints that Comcast actively interferes with Internet traffic as its subscribers try to share files online, the commission’s chairman, Kevin J. Martin, said Tuesday. Mr. Martin confirmed the investigation in comments at the Consumer Electronics Show. (Read more)

SOURCE: The New York Times