Its a fine like between security and stupidity, a line that seems to get crossed quite regularly these days.  I know you all have heard about the TSA and its determination to fondle their way into a secure airport!  Yea, thats a little extreme, but it isn’t that far off the truth.  You just cant make invasive pat downs effective against the types of threats we all face now.  Long gone is the idea that a gunman or knife wielding manic is going to get very far on a plane…there are just too many people out there who will assume the worst and take them out.  These days its explosives we need to be hyper alert for, and as with guns, its better to identify the INDIVIDUAL likely to try such an attack, than to try and find them by fumbling around with said suspects genitalia.

Mike Thinks News 352 Don’t junk my Touch…or something like that TSA

Theres a transformation in the way we consume many forms of media these days.  Television is changing from appointment TV to on demand.  Movies are moving from the theater to your home theater.  Music has nearly crested the hump from CD’s to MP3 files.  So it should come as no chock that your library of books is moving into the digital domain as well.  In fact the main thing that has held back this revolution was a lack of a good way to read electronic books…that is no longer an issue.  Give a listen as I talk about the eBook/eReader revolution and what it means to you and the publishing industry on this weeks Mike Thinks News!

For many of us, a good television program means much more than just a few minutes of mild entertainment. Its a way to escape the everyday grind, a way to explore our imagination and to allow our hopes and fears to be transformed into an idea we can share with out friends. Its what binds together so many hours in the office break room, and lets families discuss ethical and moral ideas without the need to embarrass ourselves. But more than that, we can become attached to the lives and characters in our favorite shows. Sure we know its not “real”, but we allow ourselves to be swept up in the fantasy, which is why when a great show goes wrong, it can be so disheartening. This is exactly what happened to NBC’s Heroes, what I talk about what they did wrong. . Sponsor: Hold your meetings online for just $49 a month Try GoToMeeting free. . Also this week in history Why in France its apparently not the person but the device they used to communicate thats to blame and more, on this weeks Mike Thinks News

When the leading scientist on space and time comes out and tells you to do or not do something, its usually a good idea to do more than take it under advisement.  He isn’t smarter than you, he is smarter than you and all your friends…put together.  Ok, maybe thats a stretch, but I still take the words of advise from Stephen Hawking a lot more seriously than all the people on TMZ.  So when he says do not talk to strangers, I say, OKEY DOKEY!

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Also this week, why journalism shield laws don’t protect criminal activity at Gizmodo

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This week in history

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The news of the weird, including a banned ebay category that its just SICK it has its own name.

Mike Thinks News is coming, right at ya!

We all have dreams, or at least goals that we know are probably not going to be totally realized. Its one of the hallmarks for a successful person, that they set goals that others will tell you are impossible to reach. These goals are the driving force behind many of the most exciting and innovative developments in human history. Sure, I don’t think that Benjamin Franklin set a goal to create a worldwide information superhighway, but he did manage some pretty impressive stuff. But when the RIAA and MPAA set goals that while seeming unobtainable, are still at the very least totally beyond reprehensible, even if only 10% is realized, this is where you must draw the line. I just can’t see how any sane human would ask for the government to put less resources to fight terrorism, so they can be sure the new Gaga album sells a few extra copies…but they are asking just that.
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Also this week, how Twitter has built an empire 140 characters at a time, encouraging developers to help it on its way, only to cast them asside when it get big enough to do without them. Surprising, no, but it sure does feel like a load of crap. And as always, we have this week in history, and news of the What the Fudge variety.

Do you remember when we did the story a few years ago on LifeLock?  Ya, know the one where the owner who likes to showboat around with his Social Security number on a truck billboard.  All the while claiming how safe he is because that may be his real Social Security number, but he is protected by LifeLock.   Recall how the wheels started to come off when he himself was the victim of identity theft, not by some high profile, high tech super criminal, but by some ordinary schmoe, who took him for a $500 credit card?  Well, it sometimes takes a while, but the Federal Trade commission has decided that maybe theres less truthiness in the adds than there should be.
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Also this week, we have a story that we really aren’t supposed to talk about.  You see, Apple has forbidden anyone  who creates apps for the Apple App Store from talking about the Apple App Store…or even commenting on the very agreement that forbits them from taking about the agreement…are you dizzy yet?

All that and This week in history, and the story you just cant afford to miss if you have a child in school, on Mike Thinks News

Its no secret that time marches on, every day we are reminded about how things change.  Some days these changes are small, while others have magnitude that may cause you to question the very foundation of your day to day beliefs.  Sue time works out well for most of our everyday common place experiences, but have you ever stopped to wonder why time is…or more precisely, why time is a one way street?  Physicists do, because in spite of all the equations and theories, nothing seems to explain why why it is that a fire can consume a piece of paper, but it never happens in the reverse.

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Also this week, is your next HDTV going to cost a lot more because of a shortage of parts?  Reports are coming in that this is indeed the case, but its not just your high definition television, but also your computer monitors and to a lesser extent, your cell phone.  I also take a look at the poisoning of America…and I’m not talking figuratively, I am speaking about a delibrate and calculated move by the federal government to take an active role in poisoning thousands of Americans, sure if was 90 years ago, but still.

All that and more, on this weeks Mike Thinks News

The finding of “significant” amounts of water on our Moon, not only
brings the hope of a permanent base stations closer to a reality, it
also lends a real opportunity to using the Moon as a place to launch
interplanetary missions from.  After NASA finished its initial review
of the date from the LACROSS space probes impact on the lunar surface,
it became clear that there was a lot of water by the standards most
scientists would expect.  About 25 gallons of water was observed, and
these are only the initial findings, further study of the data may yet
reveal even more.  Much of the impact plume rose up high above the
lunar surface nearly directly perpendicular the impact, but a
significant portion also spread out at a much lower angle, so it is
very possible that there is more water to be found.

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When you talk about finding water on the Moon, we aren’t just talking
about having something for future astronaughts  to drink, in fact that
would be one of the lesser needs as much of that can be recycled.  The
real benefit in finding water on the Moon comes from the fact that we
can take that water and using solar energy, convert it into two of the
most sought after substances in space….Air and Energy.  Oxygen to
breath is important, but far more important for future exploration  is
the hydrogen rocket fuel, with enough water, we could send ships to
the moon and refuel them there for interplanetary missions.  The idea
that traveling to Mars and beyond is a big step closer  is not lost on
scientist, and they are understandably excited by the idea.  Here at
ThinksMedia.com I can certainly say, this is one of the most exciting
things I’ve heard since the possible finding of fossilized bacteria on
rocks from the red planet, Mars.

California Law

Driod Focus

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This week we have another fun show, and talk about this week in history where we learn that not all NFL games are destroyed by bad calls, and that sometimes a charter signed long ago can have endurring impacts on us even today.  I also give you a little known fact about trees and what happens when you carve your name (or that of your special somone) into its trunk.

The news this week is about how some schools seem to think that the Amazon Kindle is a bad tech device because its not able to be setup to read aloud to you if you are blind because that initial setup requires navigating through onscreen menues that do not initially read themselved to you.  As oppossed to all those other tech devices they think are just fine, like all the computers (which do not come pre-set to be accessable to the blind) and of course the standard paper books, which have absolutely no provision to read themselves to you.

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I also cover a science story on why you can remember great jokes and stories…but not who you told them to.  Could it be that your too concerned about how your coming off to others to be bothered remembering who they are?

All that and more on this weeks Mike Thinks News Podcast

When reading a news story, it is very important to consider the source.  Many times in our busy online lives, we start to take a site for granted, and believe that the content put forth is done so in good faith and with the readers best interest and the truth all rolled up into one concise package.  Sometimes however, this faith is misplaced, and once lost, it is hard if not near impossible to regain.  Such a loss of faith happened to me this week when I read a story on Tech Dirt, by a Mike Masnick.  I can’t be sure if the slanting of the facts was just a case of sloppy journalism, deliberate deception, or the worlds worst effort to make a punchy headline and then having the headline leak its sensationalistic tone through the entire posts.  I can however assure you that the headline ‘Booksellers Claiming That Competition and Lower Prices are Bad for Consumers‘  is not only a complete distortion of the facts, it also is in direct and complete opposition to the actual story, which is one about how booksellers don’t want a few large companies to monopolize the market, limiting customer choice, and very likely, resulting in higher prices from less competition.

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We also take a look at why some contracts have some very strange, and far reaching language…nearly to infinity…and beyond