borders

DHS' X-ray scanners could be cancer risk to border crossers

Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned.

Even though a public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports--it purchased 300 body scanners last year that used alternative technology instead--it appears to be embracing them at U.S.-Mexico land border crossings as an efficient way to detect drugs, currency, and explosives.

A 63-page set of specifications (PDF), heavily redacted, obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center through the Freedom … Read more

Man says he popped into U.S. with iPad passport

Sometimes you just want to enter the U.S. on a whim.

You might want to celebrate the Oakland Raiders finding another new way of slipping into oblivion. You might want to catch a new sci-fi brothel just outside Vegas.

Should you not have your passport with you, you might want to make sure you have a scan of it on your iPad. For this is what Canadian Martin Reisch says he did when he tried to cross the border from Quebec into foreign territory.

The Associated Press has it that Reisch wanted to deliver some Christmas gifts to his … Read more

Microsoft's Mouse without Borders makes the KVM obsolete

From the depths of the Microsoft's experimental Garage group comes a free, useful application this morning. Replicating the core functionality of a KVM switch using only software, Mouse without Borders makes it impressively simple to control multiple Windows PCs over a network using a single set of input devices.

Simply download the program to up to four machines, and use one system to generate a security code to plug into the others. Click apply, and you can then use the mouse and keyboard on any of the four systems to seamlessly control the other computers.… Read more

Borders fades out, Web site on block

The last traces of the Borders book chain, after months of liquidating assets, are slowly disappearing.

The coffee is gone. So are the leather chairs. At the Time Warner Center in New York, books on aviary and furniture repair lay askew on half-empty shelves. In February, Borders announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection. The merchant simply couldn't find a place for itself in the era of digital books and e-readers.

One of the last chores before turning off the lights will be to sell off the company's intellectual property, which includes the Borders.com Web site, a block of IPV4 addresses, as well the contractual agreements it had with Kobo, the maker of the electronic reader by the same name.

Borders owned a minority stake in Kobo, the company that powered Borders' e-book store. Contrary to what some believed, Kobo was unaffected by Borders' financial woes and continues to operate as an independent company.

To sell its intellectual property, Borders has hired Streambank, a firm that has become one of the favorites for selling off intellectual property from distressed companies. Streambank is also handling the liquidation of Circuit City, another once-dominant national retailer that has closed its doors.

David Peress, one of Streambank's three principles, says that Circuit City's Web site has generated a lot of interest and that went dark long ago. In Borders' case, the Web site continues to operate, which should help boost the value, according to Peress. … Read more

Kobo trying to untangle itelf from Borders mess

When Kobo first partnered with Borders on the e-book front, things were a bit confusing. You had a Borders e-bookstore and e-readers powered by Kobo, while Kobo had its own e-bookstore and e-readers. You also had separate e-reading apps from Borders and Kobo.

Now Canada-based Kobo is doing its best to migrate Borders' e-book customers over to the Kobo platform as Borders goes out of business and closes all its stores. And as evidenced by the recent e-mail above (sent out this morning), Borders is also encouraging its own customers to make the move.

What adds some intrigue to the … Read more

The 404 863: Where we're broadcasting live from outer space (podcast)

Anthony David Adams joins us on today's episode in hopes that one of our listeners has the next object that will allow him to trade his way into space. He started with a toy spaceship and five trades later, he already has a ticket for a One Zero G Space Flight, so hit him up if you want to make him an offer.

While he's trading his way up, Anthony's also looking to build space exploration kits replete with Space HD Video Exploration Modules for at least 100 school districts, so sign up your local school at the Students in Space Project Web site. If you'd like to donate to the SpaceKits Project, PayPal donations are accepted at donate@onetoyspaceship.com.

On top of all that, Anthony brings our listeners a chance to win a free Nook and a watch from Nooka, the company designing the packaging for the Students in Space kits! The contest is simple:

Like OneToySpaceship.com Leave a comment on this blog post that answers this question: I want to go to outer space because________ and I am willing to trade ____________. Send out a tweet linking to the contest, and that's it!

Thanks again to Anthony for coming in today, and be sure to listen to the full episode to hear how he got started with the space project, why it's necessary to make redundant backups of our intergalactic hard drive, and how he plans to be the first member of the Parsec High Club.

Episode 863 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

What's driving rise in music sales?

Album sales edge up 1 percent for just the first half of the year and suddenly it seems everybody in the music industry is giddy.

That's likely due to the fact that since 2004, all the news about sales has been bad, bad, bad. Consider that the music industry hasn't seen growth since George W. Bush was preparing for a second term as president, the Boston Red Sox were breaking the curse of the Bambino, and Mark Zuckerberg was founding Facebook.

Last Wednesday, research firm Nielsen SoundScan announced that the industry recorded a 1 percent increase in overall … Read more

Borders shelves store feature in iOS e-reader app

The first of the big name e-book reading apps has removed links to its external e-bookstore in order to conform with Apple's recently implemented App Store policy.

Borders, which has has had its e-book offering on the App Store for more than a year, today updated its application to completely remove the built-in Kobo bookstore browser, while noting that it had made the change to be "complaint with the new in app purchase rules."

The now-removed feature let users view content from Kobo's store within the app, then buy it in the Safari browser. Now the … Read more

Judge will hear challenge to laptop border searches

A federal judge will hear arguments today in a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's claim that it can search travelers' laptops, cell phones, and other electronic devices at the border and seize them indefinitely.

Civil liberties groups filed the suit in September, which challenges the Department of Homeland Security's policies on constitutional grounds and asks a federal district court in New York City to bar the agency from continuing its current practices.

In August 2009, Homeland Security announced that it would continue a Bush administration policy that allows laptops and electronic gear to be seized and held indefinitely … Read more