US successfully test missile defense system.

The US military shot down a missile in an operation designed to test the new US missile defense system. The target missile was fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska and then tracked by several ground and ship-based radar systems and intercepted by a "kill vehicle" roughly 1900 miles away half an hour later over the Pacific according to the Missile Defense Agency.

The head of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, said the test was the most realistic test of the system to date, although the 40 year old target missile did not deploy the countermeasures as was intended. The program has come under fire for cost and viability questions. The test alone cost $120Million. It is hoped that the success of this test will allay the apprehension and fears of the tax payers.

A completely unreliable source (my imagination) has reported that Matthew Broderick was quoted as saying "You guys are missing the point, I'll just have to make another movie".

Patent Insanity

Throughout the blogosphere sarcasm and criticism has run rampant about the patent system for some time, and for good reason. For years now companies and individuals have started patenting everything under the sun. Patents, for impatient laymen like myself, are a lot like stocks: some are valuable, most are worthless and all of them are about as tangible as a fart. And just as with stocks, they are bought and sold by entities that often have little to do with the industry the patents are relative too.

This has given way to a new form of business called Patent Trolling, which of course is done by a Patent Troll, where by a person or company holds patents for the expressed purpose of waiting and watching for someone or some company to infringe on that patent and then drag them into court. It's a lot like fishing, you have your bait and you wait, or Troll for all you deep sea fishermen out their. When some unsuspecting shmoe comes along, you devour them and their assets to make a profit. These trolls often seek vague patents. The vaguer the patent, the higher the success rate of nailing someone.

Patent trolling gave birth to the idea of patent reform. Which was really just companies looking for headlines and publicity with little to no concern for actual patent reform. Many of these companies made bold statements about patent reform only to turn around and dirty their own hands with the forbidden fruit. Fruit forbidden by them.

Two examples that apparently have no shame are Amazon and IBM. Amazon vowed to reform the US patent system. IBM vowed to stop submitting vague and seemingly invaluable patents and stress significant technical content in its patents. However, Amazon is in it's ninth year of trying to patent 1-click buying on the internet. A technique employed basically since the birth of e-commerce. IBM has applied for a patent on software that basically recognizes a name as either a girls name, a boys name, or as being generic or genderless such as the name Pat. IBM has also submitted a patent for splitting a check at a restaurant. You know, us four are eating together but we all think the others will get the lobster but I'm only getting the salad bar so give us all separate checks.

While these patents seem ridiculous in nature (and they are) even patent trolling itself is not free from the foray. Haliburton (commonly known as the evil entity that once employed Dick Cheney, who is commonly known as pure evil), has applied for a patent on patent trolling. In a "anything you can do I can do better" move, IBM has applied for a patent on finding areas lacking patents. Careful, be calm, we're not quite done and whiplash can hurt for many years.

Like a virus, patent trolling has now mutated into patent insurance. A new company, RPX Corp is buying up patents promising not to use them, as long as you license the patent in question of course. You see how this is completely different right? Don't worry I just took another Advil myself. If that weren't enough, another new company, Article One Partners, is offering $50,000 rewards to anyone that finds prior art for certain valuable patents. Basically they tell you which patents help by companies with lots of money they want to go after. You find loop holes in the patents, they give you $50k and they in turn use that information to blackmail the company holding the patent.

To finish off, here are a few patents being applied for by companies. Hopefully the patent office will laugh just as hard as you will:

Microsoft: Applying for a patent to censor offensive words. Because the FCC hasn't mandated that offensive words be censored yet. That was sarcasm, try to keep up.

TiVo: Won an appeal to safe guard it's patent for Pause, Ffwd and Rwd. According to TiVo, no matter what you think you have never had these features until they came around. If you remember using these features in the past before TiVo existed, you should "just say no".

McDonald: If you made it all the way to the end of this post I applaud you and reward you by saving the best for last. McDonald's has applied for a patent titled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING A SANDWICH". That's right boys and girls, Mickey D's is patenting the sandwich. Put that turkey on rye down or you'll owe them a nickle! They even have a flow chart. For those of you who haven't died and gone to Corporate America heaven, you most likely are like me, your forehead hurts and 3 hours have mysteriously passed since you saw the flow chart. Stop, don't look again, or you may be doomed to be caught in this vicious vortex of time for all eternity.

Education: brought to you in part by Corporate America.

If you think the Federal Economy is in bad shape, you should check out the educational system. While every industry across the country runs out of money, I think we tend to forget that the educational system has a budget too, and as such it's well is running dry too. I know this more than most because several members of my family are teachers in Florida. I won't delve deep into the troubling fiscal issues affecting the sunshine states educational system, but I will say that by comparison, Bush didn't do that bad of job. I'll also say that the next time you decide to give your child's teacher a piece of your mind, you should remember consider that they most likely paid for a majority of the supplies the kids use out of their own pockets. Why? Because the schools refuse to give them the money they need to purchase the needed supplies. Why? Because there is no money. But these issues are not exclusive to my home state, they are national.

Which brings us to the topic at hand. Finally unable to pay for simple things like test and quizzes, Tom Farber, a calculus teacher from San Diego, California gone the way of Google. Google is free, and so are the tests and quizzes, and they are funded in the same ways now as well. To offset district budget cuts, Mr. Farber is selling ads on his tests and quizzes, much like the ads that make Google free. The ad cost scale is as follows: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, $30 for a semester final. In one weekend Farber received 75 e-mail requests for ads.

My usual reaction to something like this would be to write out some sarcastic quips that would be contemptuous and scornful to say the least with special emphasis on his being a corporate whore. However my "inside" knowledge as it were of how dire the situations is, has left me speechless. It's wrong, I know that, but what are you going to do? Not teach?

USA Today is running an article on the news. Also in the article are more dignified means for teachers to raise money for supplies.

The US is in a recession, who knew?

On Monday the National Bureau of Economic Research released a statement saying that the US economy has officially been in a recession since December of 2007. The NBER is an organization of academic economists who study business cycles. To no surprise the stock market has begun heading for the basement. Well, it was already in the basement so I guess they've gotten out the shovels and jackhammers to find lower ground to wallow in.

I'm so glad that somebody got up and told me the economy was in a recession because I don't think we the people had any idea. Oh wait, that's right . . . we were the ones loosing our jobs and homes. But, don't worry, I have formed my own panel of experts to draft a response to the "experts" on Wall St. and at NBER. The Chairman of my committee has release the statement below in reply:

Kevin Martin: I like this guy!

Here at Digistenz I try to stay away from tech news that "could be" and post only things that are actually happening. You will also rarely see me applaud the FCC here. However, somethings are too good to pass on. I tend not to like the FCC because I don't believe in censorship, however I realize they have their place and have actually been pretty happy with the decisions made at the FCC of late. Then today I came across an article at the Wall Street Journal that just blew me away. Kevin Martin, the current FCC Chairman is pushing for free wireless internet for all Americans. Yes, you read that correctly, FREE WIRELESS INTERNET FOR THE ENTIRE US!

As I said, I try not to post tech news that could be because 90% of it never comes into existence. But, again, somethings are too good to pass on. There have been grumblers of course. Consumer advocates have voiced concern over a pornography filter that would be placed on access, but Mr. Martin went back to the drawing board and then stipulated that adults could opt out of the filter.

Of no surprise is the fact that wireless companies such as T-mobile have voiced concern about a free internet. And why not? They are charging for it now. They didn't say it like that of course. T-mobile said they fear that the access would cause interference with the transmission signals of their 3G network. Because for reasons that escape you, me and the FCC as a whole, free internet causes interference with nearby signals but when you charge for them they magically co-exist with other frequencies. Here's your sign T-mobile. But Mr. Martin has dismissed their concerns and continues to push the measure along. So here's to hopefully starting the new year with free internet and also to Mr. Kevin Martin - I like this guy!

Why We Shouldn't Bail Out the American Automakers.

This is going to be a long one, so please, bare with me. There has been much to do lately about bailing out the American automakers. Because of the behemoth size and reach of these companies, they must be bailed out just to keep our economy from collapsing. However, I would like to look for a moment at why they should not be bailed out. If you're like me, the recent tilt-a-whirl ride of gas prices has you thinking one thing: I want off. Unfortunately most US cities do not provide a robust enough public transportation system to make this a viable and livable option as it may be in places like Manhattan or Tokyo. Places where residents have as much need for a private jet as they do an automobile.

So, until the money to develop these systems magically appears in every municipality across the country where citizens would sooner pay $4 a gallon for gas than vote for tax increases we are forced to look to the future. But don't look to Detroit. The American automakers know about as much about fuel efficiency as President Bush knows about grammar and public speaking. GMs' new Cruze (the artist formerly known as Cobalt) was going to be delayed until major backlash erupted across the net forcing even the most irresponsibly staunch supporters of GM (cough, MotorTrend, Cough, Popular Mechanics, Cough, Cough) dissented, chastising the car maker.

Meanwhile, more Americans have been buying less and less American made cars for years, a trend that has understandably accelerated during the latest gas crisis. It has accelerated because of the inefficient nature of American cars. But sales of American made cars had been on the decline for many years now because of a lack of quality. This is no surprise to anyone who has purchased a car in the passed 5+ years. Buying a better made Japanese or Korean car with higher quality materials, better fuel efficiency, higher resale value for as much as $5k less than a comparable American made car has been common place for some time now.

However, and most likely unknown to you and most Americans, is that American cars are renowned the world over for their extreme fuel efficiency as well as their extremely high quality build, materials and reliability . . . wait for it . . . as long as you don't buy them in America.

Many will tell you to buy American made because "it's the American thing to do" to "help American industry" in this difficult economic environment. However, what you have to understand, is that there has never been one company let alone an entire industry of companies that are more un-American than those of the American automobile industry.

To understand what I mean, consider the Ford Focus. Not exactly known for any of the redeeming qualities mentioned above save for the fact that it gets 35mpg. But even that isn't very impressive when you consider that the Ford Focus sold in Europe gets up to 65.6mpg not to mention it carries a reputation for reliability and high quality. Consider also the Ford Mondeo, a mid-sized family sedan also offered in wagon form. An automobile whose reputation for reliability, high quality and impeccable driver oriented interior is only out shined by it's stylish exterior. So much so that it was featured in the last James Bond film: Casino Royale (the car 007 drove to the ocean resort in while tracking down "ELIPSIS"). Did I mention that the Mondeo, comparable in size and price to a Chevy Malibu or Ford Taurus, gets up to 53.3mpg and the interior quality has been compared to that of a Jaguar? You think that's air you're breathing now? No Morpheus, I don't.

GM as well is known for high quality stylish vehicles that are above reproach in the area of fuel efficiency under the Opel brand name, often called the Audi of GM, no joke. Not even Cadillac, GMs highest quality, most luxurious brand is strong enough to garner that kind of comparison.

So while you, as an American, continue to suffer the effects of rising gas prices and a beleaguered economy drastically effected by failing Multi-Billion dollar American automakers, the cars we NEED are being made by the companies that so desperately NEED us to buy them. But they refuse to make those vehicles here. Why? I've been asking that question myself for many years to no avail. It's a question that is never addressed by any American automaker because most Americans don't know about it (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain). However, although this information is never presented to the American consumer, that doesn't change the fact that while we long for higher quality, more fuel efficient vehicles, the American automaker sells them everyday . . . wait for it . . . to anybody but us, their home town, America. Instead we get Expeditions and Escalades shoved down our throats by automakers only concerned with the quick money. Americans should not bail out the American automaker because the American automaker doesn't like the American.

So, as Detroit begs for another $25 Billion in government loans on top of the $25 Billion already approved, all while lobbying with Nancy Pelosi to be included in the $700 Billion Wall St bailout, ask yourself this: If you asked an American company to sell you something you desperately needed, only to have them refuse and announce their disdain for the American consumer by selling the exact product needed to nearly every other country on the planet, including our enemies, would you give them $750 Billion when they asked for it?

No? Then why are we?

But to reiterate what I said in the beginning the American auto industry must not be allowed to fail. Below is a video released today by GM. The facts are correct and the grim future it portrays is absolutely true. What it leaves out is the angering fact that inept management, an inability to adjust to known incoming market changes, greed and horribly inefficient product offerings in large part brought this burden to our, the tax payers, doorstep. Instead, the blame is diverted to the bad economy as though they have absolutely no accountability or responsibility for the current situation. At the end of the video GM pleads with you to write your congressmen to urge them to bail out the Big 3. I suggest you do the same, but I also suggest that you stipulate that other major changes need to be made such as cutting the salaries of the over paid executives that got the Big 3 into the mess they are in. Point in Fact, as I was writing this news came of Chrysler paying out $30Million in executive bonuses rather than using that cash to stay alive. In the 2008 election, we voted in part to elect a new president but also to remove an inept administration. If we the tax payers are to bail out the automakers, to the tune of $750 Billion, we should have the same option to remove those who had a hand in creating this travesty. A free hand out with no consequences cannot be allowed to occur. To do so will only ensure that this type of debacle will occur again having breached the "moral hazard" that was so atrociously man handled on Wall Street this year.

YouTube Nation . . . Address

Hot on the heels of President-Elect Obama's creation of Change.gov, a website designed to make the new U.S. Presidents policies more accessible, an announcement comes that the weekly Presidential address will be uploaded and broadcast on YouTube and featured on the Change.gov. Below is the first ever YouTube Presidential address of many to come.

President-Elect Obama wants your opinion

President-Elect Barack Obama is making strides to have an open government. At http://change.gov/ Obama is leveraging the internet just as he did in his campaign to achieve this. The President-Elect is reaching out to us at this new website which gives the opportunity to voice your opinions and concerns. Though the information is not available yet detailed plans (such as economic and health care plans) are to be posted on the site in a promised "plain english, non-Washington-speak" format. We shall see.

Love him or hate him he works in a very post-baby boomer manner leveraging technology to (hopefully) disclose more information than we have ever seen from a President on his administrations' intents. With any kind of luck this will catch on and dictate the manner in which all elected officials run their offices. Open and easily accessible.