The Atlantic has a scathing article about TSA airport security, citing a number of demonstrated attempts (with success) to get past the "security theater" that is our current airport security system. Don't read this article if you believe that TSA security works and you're safer because of it—it might be very disturbing.

It is apparent now, after the airing of New Family (the second installment in Microsoft's new ad campaign), that the object of the ads is to create a more sympathetic, approachable, and perhaps even more "human" Bill Gates. My only guess here is that he's being groomed to be the personal spokesman for Microsoft in future ads. Jerry Seinfeld's character is mostly deferential to him and the ads make a point of using lines praising Gates's personal position in technology and "connection" with others. I'm still not certain that they will work, and I find the ads painfully slow and mostly pointless, but if people do end up watching them, the message might start getting through. Whether it is believed and whether any perceived softness in Gates is going to rub off positively on Microsoft is unclear. But, these ads aren't made to woo the small percentage of non-Microsoft users, but to make defending Microsoft safe again. If you're interested, Shoe Circus (the first installment) is also available from YouTube.

OK, I'm still confused by this oft-quoted figure from the McCain/Palin campaign that "[Alaska] produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." (Gibson interview with Palin, September 11, 2008, as noted on The Times). From my calculations, even when only Oil is taken into account, that number is off by quite a bit.

A good analysis from Charles Miller of the popularity and purposefulness of the PC in the Get A Mac ads. The article recons that the same play is at work with the PC in the ads as was with the coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons.

In some good news for consumers, the FTC has decided to get more serious about the Telemarketing Sales Rules that govern telemarketing phone calls. The decision is pretty readable, but the salient points are after the jump.

Andy Grove (venerable former CEO and Chairman of Intel), has published a proposal for energy change in the US that's quite a bit different from what most people are calling for, but makes some real sense. The article (from Portfolio.com via Wired) calls for a move to electrify transport without regard for where the electricity comes from because it will provide the US with much more control and agility over its own future.

A little known (but much loved by me) feature of every iPod (except the Shuffle) and the original iPhone was that you could charge the phone using the FireWire port on your computer. Of course, it's been quite a while since you could transfer data over FireWire, but you could buy a cable that powered the iPod/iPhone via FireWire and exchanged data over USB. Why would you want to do this? Simple: for USB ports to be powered, a Mac must be on (not in sleep mode). This means you can't sleep your Mac and charge your iPhone. However, FireWire didn't have that same requirement, and Apple kept the FireWire ports hot even as long as your computer was plugged into the wall, regardless of sleep mode.

Normally, I wouldn't post about an Apple security update, because they're relatively common and generally attack most of the issues within a period of time that everyone agrees is a bit too long. However, there was a lot of hubub about Apple's "delay" in getting the security patch out for the recent BIND issue that could allow for users to be sent to the wrong sites. This wouldn't have caused me to write, except that after Apple patched the problem, there have been a few articles (no links provided, so as not to give them advertising revenue) that indicate the patch did no good. This is UNTRUE. Full details in the rest of the article.

There's been a lot of commentary over the last few months about Comcast and their filtering/traffic manipulation/smoothing/whathaveyou. In general, customers are up-in-arms about one of their one-to-two choices for high-speed internet doing things behind their backs to change the way the internet appears to them. However, there's also been a ton of fear-mongering (on both sides) about what this action, and potential FCC reaction, means to the future of the Internet.

According to an article from PhysOrg.com, MIT researchers have found a way to inexpensively use solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for use later in a fuel cell. This has a lot of promise! Read the details on the MIT site.