This isn't creepy at all

Apple and Google building coronavirus tracking tech for iOS and Android, coming in May - CNET

What could possibly go wrong?

Two of the tech industry's biggest players are working together to fight the coronavirus, announcing a new set of tools that could come to a majority of smartphones around the world.

The new technology, outlined in white papers published by Apple and Google on Friday and further discussed in a call with reporters Monday, relies on Bluetooth wireless radio technology to help phones communicate with one another, ultimately warning users about people they've come in contact with who are infected with the coronavirus.

 It's like Big Brother and Skynet got together, and...

Contact tracing

Apple and Google's technology is meant to support contact tracing, which historically has been a manual process in which health care workers painstakingly comb through a patient's history to figure out who they were near and may have exposed to infection.

Apps could potentially speed up that process. People who're marked as having coronavirus in an app on their phone could then wirelessly transmit alerts to anyone they come in contact with, potentially leading people to take extra precautions or self-quarantine to slow any further spread.

Apple and Google representatives said they chose to create this joint technology in part because they wanted to ensure interoperability between different phones. The companies also chose to build the system into their iOS and Android software in order to reduce the impact this technology could have on battery life.

To ensure as many people have access to the technology as possible, Google will include the tracking data in an update to its "Google Play services" feature for phones powered by its Android software. As a result, more people will have access to the technology even if their phone isn't being actively updated by manufacturers anymore.

What the companies didn't know is how many people need to sign up to make the system work, in part because the crisis itself is unprecedented. But together, the companies' software runs nearly all the billions of smartphones and tablets in use today.

This project brought to you by the Chinese Communist Party's Ministry of State Security...

The good news, FWIW, is that comments are running against the idea, in this article and in others elsewhere. (Even this jackboot licker here: Apple and Google are working together to fight COVID-19 but it's up to us to make it effective | Android Central)

Note to Everybody

Inspired by Tam's post Copypasta from my Bookface wall...

Go ahead and unfriend me.

The only way I am going back to Facebook is if they change their rules to let one post using a pseudonym with your "legal ID" not publicly available, and not searchable, without a warrant.

I'd even be willing to pay a double sawbuck (that's a Jackson for you kids, AKA an Irony Note, until Harriet replaces Andy, at which time it will be a Freedom Note, I guess) per annum for the service.

Facebook can be a useful way to stay in touch with family and friends; people evacuating from Hurricane Harvey only need a couple of minutes to post to their wall "Safe in Dallas, more later" and everyone will know they made it out OK.

Google+ could do that much, too, and anyone who has an Android phone has a Google+ account by virtue of having an Android, AKA GMail, AKA Google, account. And Google+ does not demand you post your legal ID anywhere. (Ask me how I know...)

But Zuckerberg et. al. are more interested in making piles of money and in manipulating society than in providing a simple service that people would actually like.

So feel no guilt at all about trimming your friends list by one there.

BTW, I'm still on Twitter, as of this week. Not real active, compared to some, but posting a link to the blog posts will (or used to) cross-post to Facebook, and occasionally some SJW does or says something stupid...

"That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!"

So, when I got my first Droid phone, I checked out a bunch of the Android-related fora, and still do, as sometimes they have a good tip about an app, or an accessory.

Today, I found this: Blackberry CEO wants net neutrality conversation to extend to apps.

Think about that title for a moment. Take it in. John Chen — CEO of Blackberry — went on a little rant on the company’s blog this morning, and by the end of it all we’d learned that he essentially wants to make it illegal not to use Blackberry. That’s how crazy it sounds when you think about it, anyway.
What he actually said is that he wants Congress to extend the discussions going on about “net neutrality” into the world of software, noting that he believes the problem of enforcing an “open highway” for internet traffic can’t stop at the carrier level alone.

 "Net Neutrality" sounds good, until you realize that it's code for "The government should regulate what people say on the internet." It sounds like it should be some sort of guarantee of freedom of speech, but, no. What it really means is "You can't say stuff that might offend protected classes." Or, actually, certain protected classes. Pick on Sarah Palin all you want. All these people ganging up on the Twitter/Facebook user CommunismKills because she mocks progtardia in general for a bunch of simpletons and hypocrites are an example.

Also, if you're the CEO of a technology company that's lost it's mojo, Net Neutrality should be a guarantee of income:

Netflix, which has forcefully advocated for carrier neutrality, has discriminated against BlackBerry customers by refusing to make its streaming movie service available to them. Many other applications providers similarly offer service only to iPhone and Android users. This dynamic has created a two-tiered wireless broadband ecosystem, in which iPhone and Android users are able to access far more content and applications than customers using devices running other operating systems. These are precisely the sort of discriminatory practices that neutrality advocates have criticized at the carrier level.

(Emphasis in original.)

Here's a clue, John: The way it works is, you sell enough product to make it profitable for Netflix to support your platform.

 And, yes, I know, that's "The way it's supposed to work."

Because John, and most if not all the idiots ranting on YouTube and at #Occupy events and the DNC about "Capitalism" wouldn't know a Free Market Economy if it made them prosperous...

Of course they do!

Because it's what they do: Regulate your ability to get from Point A to Point B!

Agency Aims to Regulate Map Aids in Vehicles - NYTimes.com

It's all about control...

Busy, busy, busy

Buncha errands today.  Ran Mrs. Drang over to Renton to renew her membership in the Washington Arms Collectors.

On the way back I had to stop at the Verizon store, my Droid Razr Maxx had stopped working; naturally, when they did a reboot it worked fine, unlike the five or six times I had tried.  *sigh*

BevMo is across the street, and I was out of Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey.  They have several new styles out:

"Pure Triticale Whiskey", "Port Wine Finished Wheat Whiskey" (aged in huckleberry port casks), "Cask Strength Wheat Whiskey", and Bourbon 101.

What I got:

Having a bit of the Port Finished right now.  Yum!  Smoky like a nice single malt Scotch!

Stopped at Federal Way Discount Guns to get membership in their range.  It's close enough to home that I felt it was worth buying a year's membership--ammo supplies permitting--but Mrs. Drang doesn't think she'll be doing enough shooting that the family membership would be worth it, so she went for a "pay as you go" membership.

With a full membership (individual or family) you can shoot shotgun (slugs only) and rifles from .223-7.62x39, so I can get some time in with the AR, the SKS, and the 12 gauge.

I was planning on getting a new Ethernet cable and seeing if I could get the Raspberry Pi (hooked to bag  screen yesterday) on the Internet again, but my back feels like Sammy Sosa took a Louisville Slugger to me, so... pass.

Hmmm, why does this not surprise me?

Inaugural 2013 has some curious app permissions | Android Central

The Presidential Inauguration is next Monday, and I was all geared up to tell everyone about the Inaugural 2013 app from AT&T and PIC. It's a beautifully done application, has received rave reviews from the folks who have installed it and looks like it would be really helpful for anyone going to the festivities over the weekend as well as the Inauguration itself. But as Politico notes, there's a bit of a thing here -- according to the application's privacy policy it appears that the app is mining your data and sending it off to "candidates, organizations, groups or causes that we believe have similar political viewpoints, principles or objectives."
The election's over. But make no mistake, this is not a nonpartisan inauguration application. That's not to say it's not a fine app -- it is. And that's not to say it's evil -- it's not. But it belongs to the Presidential Inaugural Committee 2013, and so does any data it collects from you. If you're cool with that, then cool. It's just something to be aware of.

It may just be a bit of self-absorbed, affirmation-kinda thing, but being an Android user I kinda have the feeling that iphone and crackberry users are more likely to be kool-ade-drinking OBot sheeple, and therefore less likely to fall for this crap.

Or maybe this is sort of a reverse-Pauline Kael "I don't know anyone who voted for him" thing.  I dunno, but, like I said, it does not surprise me a bit...

Bet they claim it's the most advanced technology in the world...

I mean, we're talking a country where peasants don't know man has walked on the moon, and the "educated" think it was "A Glorious People's Accomplishment of Our Allies, the Soviets Chinese."  ("Pssst!  What is today's GoodThink, comrade?")

Mysterious Android tablet shows up in North Korea | Android Central
I'm also betting it's actually ChiCom, with a north Korean interface--programmed by Chinese. (Or maybe stolen from the Republic of Korea.)

And, yes Android Central, you are correct when you note the "irony in a closed nation like North Korea being able to develop its own tablet because of an open-source OS like Android."

Comments are amusing, except for the ones that are sad.

Free Android App

Amazon's Free Android App of the Day is the Army Survival Guide.

Seems to be a digitization of the old FM 21-76.  The are a lot of those out there, this one seems to be a decent job--more than just .pdf scans, at least.  Not sure which edition they used.  The one that came out in the mid-80's was edited by Nick Rowe, and had full-color photographs.  I knew guys who always kept a copy in their rucksack, I figured if I didn't already know it, I wasn't going to have time to flip through a table of contents...

This is just wrong

Cthulhu has a change of heart, tries to saves the world [App Review] | Android Central And don't go thinkin' it's just an Android thing, either, according to the article "Cthulhu Saves the World originally launched on PC through Steam and Xbox Live Arcade, and quickly followed-up with a mobile port for iOS and Android." I was never a Lovecraft fan, although I did enjoy the occasional "Call of Cthulu" role-playing game session. Still.

It's Too Late!

Or is it?
How to get a refund on an app from Google Play beyond the 15 minute time window | Android Central

I still think Google re-naming the Android Market (and Google Music and Books, and...) "Google Play" was stupid. 

I Am Disappoint

Twice over.

While there are a myriad stories out there of GPS units telling people to hang a left where there is no left to hang, the navigation program on my Droid today tried to tell me to drive 15 miles to an emissions testing station in Seattle when there are three much closer, including one about two miles away, at the time I initiated the search. (I knew generally where it was, not which way to turn, at which intersection.)

Then, to make matters worse, when I got there, the Drangmobile passed the inspection, so I failed at making sweet hippy tears on Earth Day. Damn it.

Election Day PSA

Make a note of this number:

877-611-VOTE

That's the Tea Party Patriots Voter Irregularity Hotline.

Or, you can download the Voter Fraud App, for Android or iphone.

Not sure how I'd go about proving voter fraud here in all-by-mail the Martin Luther King Collective of the Soviet of Washington...

All Together Now!

The day the gun ban died
I thought I heard ol' Mayor Daily cry
Brother what a fight it really was
Sister what a sight it really was
Glory be!
Seriously, lots more work to come, and pretty much what everyone expected, but welcome news!
Posted via Mobile Blogger on my Motorola Droid

UPDATE:  OK, as noted above & below,  this posted 15+ hours after I sent the message to Mobile Blogger.  At this time I am assuming that it didn't post to the blog until I actually received the confirmation email from Mobile Blogger.  Not sure why.  I considered deleting the post altogether, but decided to keep it.

Comic of the Day: "Mallard Fillmore"

Mallard Fillmore 05/02/2010

Viewed on Motorola Droid using Fuse Tree's "Daily Strip" app, uploaded to blog from Droid with Google's Mobile Blogger.

"I don't recall owning a droid"

I was going to post the You Tube video of Obi Wan Kenobi saying that, but could not find it.  I mean, everyone else has used "This is the droid I've been looking for..."

Anyway.  Last week Mrs. Drang and I joined the ranks of Droid owners.  We went with Motorola Droids from Verizon, partially because we've been happy with Verizon's service, and partially because renewing your contract with Verizon is about as beneficial as starting a new one with another carrier.  And I wanted a Droid; we both wanted a hardware keyboard as well as the option of the touchscreen.

First impressions:  Gonna take getting used to the keyboards.  The hardware keyboard will be more accurate to type on than the touchscreen, but the touchscreen might be faster.

Do like the interface, although there might be a learning curve.  Interestingly, Mrs. Drang, who is usually not quite as tech-savvy as me, has showed me several things I couldn't figure out.  One of the youngsters who works for me has had a Droid for several months, and he tipped me off about a few things right away.  "When you're back in such-and-such a section of the salt mines, turn on Plane Mode, 'cuz' you won't get a signal, and it'll save your battery."  From that I realized I needed to turn GPS Mode off unless I actually need it...  And installed my first two "widgets", to turn Plane Mode off and on, and ditto for GPS mode.

Apps:  Sure there are more apps for the iPhone, the iPhone has been out longer.  And (I am told by iPhone addicts) there is quite a lot of overlap amongst them.  Plus, they have to be approved by His Royal Highness Steve Jobs, or no go.

As for the Android Marketplace, yeah, still a lot of overlap.  Lots of free apps.  Most of the apps are $10.00 or less.

So far I have installed the following:  Mil Dot Calc and Shooter (Ballistics) by Sean Kennedy.  MDC is free, Shooter is $10.  There is an ongoing thread on AR15.com about Shooter, in which Sean is an active participant.  He has updated the app 3 or 4 times since I downloaded it... There are also a couple of shot timers, for gun gamers.

I've downloaded several amateur-radio related apps as well, including Smerty Software's Ham, which gives the status of a variety of current propagation/band/solar activity reports; APK Labs' Signals, a reference about a variety of signal and codes systems, and Tango 11's Ham Radio Study, to prepare for the Elements 2, 3, and 4 Amateur Radio exams.  (That's Technician, General, and Amateur Extra.)  I also downloaded dev1033's Resister ID and  Imagitronics' Schematic Reference, since I may have passed the General exam, but am still a little weak on that stuff.

There are several CW ("Morse Code") tutors, as well as apps that will send signals in Morse Code using either text messaging  or by flashing lights on the screen.  I have not yet installed any of these.  I figure learning CW can wait until after I pass the Amateur Extra exam...

I have also installed Snaptic's Compass.  The Droid has an integral GPS, but the compass works even with then GPS turned off.  In "digital GPS" display mode, not only do you get the compass and GPS data, but you also get a pitch and roll indicator!

I installed two different references on the US Constitution:  United States Constitution by Ken Hunt, and We The People, by Robert Bushman.  We The People is pretty straight forward, the text of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, while United States Constitution has a lot of additional material, including cross references and such goodies as the French Revolutionary Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Mayflower Compact, and the original Articles of Confederation.

I also installed Qik, inc.'s, Qik Video Camera.  This lets you live-stream video from you smart phone to the 'net.  Handy in case the SEIU is after you...

This is running long, so I'll post further impressions of using the phone separately.