Flash drive revolution makes hard disks obsolete

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Sony unveils Flash-based UMPC | Reg Hardware

As flash drives have gotten bigger, faster and more reliable, they have slowly been taking the place of traditional magnetic and optical storage media. This has set the stage for a storage revolution that is already well underway. Last month, Samsung announced that they would be releasing a laptop and UMPC device each fitted with a 32GB flash drive instead of a hard disk. Not to be outdone, Sony announced a similar configuration for it’s latest line of UMPC, the VAIO UX. It will take some time before flash devices can fully replace traditional hard disks, but at the rate storage has been increasing, it probably won’t be long.

Right-wing nut calls NYT story treasonous

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Lawmaker Wants Times Prosecuted

This kind of political BS really gets me steamed. The last time I checked, our Constitution specifically protects freedom of speach and of the press. In fact it’s part and parcel of the 1st Ammendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Treason is also pretty specifically defined in Section 3 of Article 3:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Times did it’s job in reporting the ongoing gross abuse of power by the current administration. It seems any challenge to the actions/policies of this administration is seen as treason by the conservative right.

America, the surveilance society

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With the revelation of yet another secret government spy program, it should be more obvious than ever that we are living in a surveilance society on the edge of becoming a police state. Last month USA Today ran a front page story on the NSA, revealing the agency was sifting through phone logs and internet traffic of millions of American citizens. This latest revelation by the New York Times has equally troubling constitutional implications. At the same time, it has been reported (here and here) that local police and the federal government (including the FBI, DHS and DOJ) have sidestepped legal warrants in favor of private data brokers, many of which use pretexting to illegally obtain personal information. Congress has had hearings on all of these issues with little to no actual progress. This has been due to the administration and their supporters blocking attempts to pry into the details of these programs. The one exception to this has been the use of data brokers, to which most of those interviewed have been fairly forthcoming. Even so, I can’t help but feel that one day soon, we may here the words “papers, please” on our way to work. Alles klar, herr komisar?