After blocking personal hotspot at hotel, Marriott to pay FCC $600,000

Marriott practices were called into question when a guest complained that they were, "jamming mobile hotspots so you can’t use them in the convention space."

By way of reply Marriott claimed that, "Marriott has a strong interest in ensuring that when our guests use our Wi-Fi service, they will be protected from rogue wireless hotspots that can cause degraded service, insidious cyber-attacks & identity theft."

Apparently, they are not concerned with ensuring that guests use Marriott's own network services at between $250 & $1,000 per access point.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/10/after-blocking-personal-hotspot-at-hotel-marriott-to-pay-fcc-600000/ / hotel sells dedicated wireless services custom networks convention prices access point Gaylord Opryland hotel Nashville Tennessee block guests' personal hotspots Marriott Hotel Services $600,000 agreement penalty Federal Communications Commission settle allegations hotel chain interfered disabled Wi-Fi networks consumer consumers conference facilities Nashville hotel March 2013 nine-page jamming mobile hotspots convention space FCC employees containment features WiFi monitoring system prevent consumers connecting to the Internet personal WiFi networks personal portable Wi-Fi WiFi device data leakage violation advisories forbids blocking jamming interference authorized radio communications Jeff Flaherty Marriott spokesman /

Your fellow diners' appearance may influence how much you eat

How did you get to be the weight you are?

It's a complicated question. Well, actually, the question is simple, it's the answer that's complicated.

Exercise plays a part. Genetics too. Overweight people tend to have overweight children. But their dogs (if they have them) tend to be overweight too, so there's more than just genetics at play here.

And of course, what you eat, & how much, is of major importance too.

Researchers at Cornell university have recently found that what other diners eat, plus their appearance, can influence what you eat as well.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/10/your-fellow-diners-appearance-may-influence-how-much-you-eat/ / obese obesity fat influence food intake marketing mindset chocolate cheesecake research researching study who you’re eating with larger than you how much food eating study Cornell University published journal Appetite 82 undergraduate students salad spaghetti lunches actress trim in shape she ate healthily more salad less pasta ate less healthily wore prosthesis appearance extra 20kg kilogram kilogramme weight wearing prosthesis researchers Mitsuru Shimizu Katie Johnson Brian Wansink overweight eating companion increased unhealthy food intake participants ate 31.6% more pasta served herself overweight companion serving herself healthily reduced healthy food intake participants actually ate 43.5% less salad study small results environment what you eat /

Longevity & the sense of smell

Failing heart, cancer, lung disease are all major risks to life. Even bigger is loss of the sense of smell.

https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21621702-low-olfactory-acuity-portends-curtailed-lifespan-scent-death / hearts failing lost their sense of smell die within five years if you cannot recognise common smells obviously deadly illnesses illness research study published PLOS ONE Dr. Martha McClintock Dr. Jayant Pinto University of Chicago investigation reseaarch project olfactory problems forewarn neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer’s Parkinson’s abnormally shortened telomeres caps on the ends of chromosomes shortening implicated in the process of ageing good sense of smell keep people healthy detecting pathogens toxins in the air stimulating appetite aid aiding memory emotions intimacy researchers measuring smell loss predict mortality National Social Life, Health and Ageing Project survey University of Chicago measure measures health well being older Americans participants three minute smell test survey’s researchers special felt-tipped pens scented five common odours fish leather orange peppermint rose volunteers presentation volunteer pictures names four possible answers answer wrong normosmic errors hyposmic smell-deficient anosmic unable to smell 430 of the respondents were dead adjusting for ageolder people gender sexwomen men socioeconomic status richer better educated people greater longevity race ethnicity ethnicities longer lifespan correlation nutrition smoking alcohol use controlled for specific diseases heart failure cancer stroke strokes diabetes researchers relationship severe liver damage stronger predictor of death causal relationship olfaction turnover of stem cells smell general inability to regenerate and renew /

Tesla to unveil "D", 09 October — updated

Credit: Tesla.Yahoo

My guess: "D" is for dual, as in the planned all wheel drive option for the Model S, using dual electric motors, previously mentioned on these pages.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-02/tesla-teases-its-next-big-d

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1094732_elon-musk-tweets-tesla-to-unveil-d-on-oct-9th-our-guesses

https://autos.yahoo.com/news/tesla-showing-everyone-d-october-9th-133052927.html

Update 03 October:


Credit: adelman/Tesla Motors Club/Engadget

Zoom in on the badge on the right. "P85D" implies an 85 kWh battery, & so, that speculation about "D" being related to increased battery capacity, is wrong.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/02/tesla-model-s-p85d-leak/ / Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk Twitter tweet tweeted photo caption About time to unveil the D and something else roller letter D shadowy front end Tesla Model S date October 9 Tesla logo retweed retweeted favor favour favorited comments announcement updates new options EV electric luxury sedan vehicle 4WD four wheel drive all-wheel drive option Model X crossover utility vehicle new electronic safety systems adaptive cruise control lane departure warning additional sensor hardware retrofitted existing cars via over the air software updates larger battery pack option rumored 110 kiloWatt hour pack production version /

Soon you will be able to stream Photoshop to your Chromebook

Credit: Google

Chromebooks are low-cost/low-power devices, so how is that platform a candidate to run Photoshop, one of the most processor-intensive programmes available?

This will be a streaming version of Photoshop. Streaming Photoshop, running on the Chromebook connects to a virtualized instance of Photoshop running on Adobe servers. Images are stored on Google Drive. It's Photoshop in the cloud.

Beta testing at the moment.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/191089-you-can-now-stream-photoshop-to-your-chromebook-a-huge-win-for-google

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/adobe-brings-streaming-photoshop-to-chrome-os/

http://chrome.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/adobe-joins-chromebook-party-starting.html / Adobe Google announcement announced streaming version Photoshop Chromebooks Chrome OS Chrome browser Chromebook Big Software killer software suite Chrome OS laptop market Photoshop Creative Cloud suite streaming version of Photoshop Adobe running a bunch of servers running Photoshop Chromebook Chrome browser Windows install Project Photoshop Streaming app connect virtual virtualized Photoshop instances instance connect direct access your Google Drive images saved to loaded from editing cloud screen sharing remote desktop running Photoshop screen-sharing app Chromebook desktop remote computer Google Drive processing locally remotely battery life  GPU acceleration GPU dependent features beta tested Adobe’s education customers North America latency response image quality high-bandwidth link high-res 24-bit graphics Creative Cloud subscribers Chrome OS Chrome for Windows /

Sub $200 Windows laptop — finally (well, soon)

Credit: HP/Engadget

Apparently those promises of a sub $200 laptop are about to come to fruition. HP has announced additions to its Stream range. There will be two new laptops, with 11 & 13 inch screens.

● Centrino processor
● 2 GB RAM
● 32 GB SSD
● 1,366 x 768 pixel display
● optional touch capability on the 13-inch model
● Windows 8
● one year subscription to 1TB of online storage via Microsoft OneDrive
● one year subscription to Office 365

HP's Stream range will also include 7 & 8 inch tablets.

http://www.cnet.com/products/hp-stream-11-6/

http://au.pcmag.com/news/24808/hp-reveals-199-windows-stream-laptop

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/29/hp-stream-laptops-tablets/ / HP Hewlett Packard Stream lineup 14-inch version cheap cloud storage cloud reliant systems Web browser access online services Chromebook added flexibility Windows 8 clamshell laptops HP Stream 11.6 HP Stream 13.3 $199 $229 US £179 £199 UK 1,366x768-pixel displays optional touchscreen 13 inch model low power Intel Celeron processor 32GB SSD flash storage fan fanless design full Windows 8 install SSD applications files colours colors magenta blue budget laptops clamshells 1TB online storage Microsoft OneDrive subscription Office 365 one year Microsoft Store gift card $25 4G antenna 200MB of data per month 4G 250MB 3G UK HP DataPass least expensive Windows 8 laptops specifications specs Chromebook accessing remote cloud based apps services running installed software Windows 8 interface fast responsive optimized optimizing operating system OS CPU extended Web surfing productivity casual PC two slate-style tablets HP Stream 7 Tablet HP Stream 8 Tablet Intel powered tablets /

Gresso case protects the iPhone 6 from bending

Credit: Gresso/The Gadgeteer

If you're still not convinced by the reassurances provided by Consumer Reports on the strength of the iPhone 6 in yesterday's post, you might like to add some reinforcement in the form of a Gresso case. 2 mm of aluminium at top, bottom & sides has got to help.

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2014/09/29/gresso-case-protects-the-iphone-6-from-bending/ / iPhone 6 phone bend bending carrying carry pocket phone fron back pocket sit down Gresso iPhone 6 cas CNC machined aluminumbumper style protection around edges 2mm solid back cover rigid rigidity 300 lbs of force bend phone unique clamshell design hing magnetic closure metal bumper cases already on the market /