Eideard

Free Wi-Fi is on its way to some Japanese vending machines. Working much like a mobile hotspot at your local coffee shop, people located near the machines would be able to connect to the internet for 30 minutes at a time and surf the web.

The vending machines are for the drink company Asahi. Connecting to the web using a machine can be done without any kind of log-in, and if your initial 30-minute connection to the network expires, you can connect again and keep on surfing. The service is available to anyone, to use with any smartphone, tablet, or computer and does not require the purchase of a drink from the machine.

Why vending machine hotspots? Free internet hotspots in the country are few and far between due in part to Japan’s early adoption of mobile broadband, which led to a lack of free Wi-Fi locations. Now that tablets and smartphones have taken off, there’s a growing need for Wi-Fi. While there are a few hotspots at places like McDonalds, the vending machines would allow people to get connected in more areas.

OK. I still recommend setting up a VPN — virtual private network — connecting through your home network before you start wandering much through public access unsecured wifi.

I just love finding apps like this, and I think you’ll be excited too. The British Library has released 1000 books from its 19th Century collection into a free iPad app that includes novels, historical works, poetry, philosophy and scientific books.

The books have been scanned in high resolution and color so you can see the engraved illustrations, the beauty of the embossed covers, along with maps and even the texture of the paper the books were printed on.

You can search the collection, browse titles by subject, and even read commentary on some of the titles. The books can be downloaded for reading offline.

In general, I found the app a joy to use. It was fun to browse titles, or search for things I was interested in. While some of the type is old and weathered, you can zoom in and read everything without issue…

Although the app is free, the British Library plans to charge for an enhanced version of 60,000 titles later this year. Many of the books have an option to buy, and when you click you are sent to Amazon to purchase a printed copy. The app is iPad only for now, but will be coming to the Kindle Reader and Android tablets in the future. If you grab the app let us know what you think.

This seems to have been a moderately literary weekend. Though never a fan of the Compleat 19th Century, I was mentored quite happily for a spell by a pedant with a doctorate in Victorian poetry, prose and drama. Younger days.

If you are properly equipped, I can recommend the app.

China has slashed AIDS mortality by nearly two-thirds since it began distributing free antiretroviral drugs in 2002, Chinese government scientists are reporting.

About 63 percent of all those needing AIDS drugs are getting them, up from virtually zero in 2002. That has caused a 64 percent drop in mortality in “person-years,” as China measures it, an estimate of how long someone would have lived without the disease. AIDS mortality dropped to 14.2 per 100 person-years in 2009, from 39.3 in 2002.

The study, led by China’s national center for control and prevention of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, was published online by Lancet Infectious Diseases.

China’s success in such a short time “is a testimony to the young midlevel scientists who convinced the leadership that this was the right thing to do,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, an AIDS specialist from the University of North Carolina who has lived in China and helped it battle the epidemic.

A different report, released Wednesday by the International Labor Organization of the United Nations, criticized China’s health-care system, saying that people infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, were frequently turned away by hospitals.

The report, based on interviews with patients, health care workers and hospital managers, says patients are sent by general hospitals to infectious-disease hospitals. But they often refuse to perform surgery, for example, for fear that paying patients will avoid the hospital if word spreads that it operates on AIDS patients. China’s national center for AIDS control, a co-author of the report, agreed that hospital discrimination was a problem…

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Superior Court Judge Paul A. Bacigalupo posed a question to the slim man wearing blue jailhouse scrubs. Which is worse, the judge asked, an innocent man wrongfully convicted or the real perpetrator remaining free?

“The wrong guy going to prison,” Francisco “Franky” Carrillo replied without hesitation. “For the past 20 years, I’ve lived that experience. And I think it’s the worst predicament any human being can be under.”

Days after the courtroom exchange, Carrillo, 37, was expected to be freed late Tuesday or Wednesday from Los Angeles County Jail, having spent two decades behind bars for a fatal drive-by shooting he insists he did not commit.

Bacigalupo overturned Carrillo’s 1992 murder conviction Monday after witnesses recanted their identification of him as the gunman and a dramatic reconstruction of the shooting raised doubts about whether they could have ever reliably identified the shooter.

The murder case against Carrillo hinged solely on the word of six teenage boys who had been standing with the victim on a Lynwood street when the gunman drove by. One jury deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of acquitting Carrillo, but a second jury found him guilty. He was sentenced to two life terms in prison.

Last week, five of the six witnesses testified at the Compton Courthouse that they had not clearly seen the gunman. Among them was the victim’s son, who said he made his identification because one of his friends at the scene said he recognized Carrillo as the shooter. That friend also recanted.

The case underscores what legal experts say is the danger of eyewitness testimony. Studies have shown that faulty identifications are the biggest factor in wrongful convictions and that witnesses are particularly unreliable when identifying someone of a different race. The witnesses who identified Carrillo are black, while he is Latino.

Yes, the case could still have moved differently with any number of variables. RTFA and come to your own conclusions.

I recall personal eyewitness testimony I’ve offered on trial – when I had been bright enough to write down my experience right after events happened. When I went back to those notes during an interview with a defense attorney, I had to admit surprise at the faultiness of my recollection vs. the notes I made that day.

Ntlhoi Motsamai – Speaker of the National Assembly

Lesotho sits like pearl in a shell, surrounded by the land mass of South Africa. But this tiny kingdom of 1.8 million people boasts another jewel, which is perhaps astonishing given its size.

Lesotho is ranked eighth in the world by the World Economic Forum when it comes to bridging the gap between the sexes. The reasons are cultural, political and economic, but one explanation keeps being repeated when you probe the gender issue, and it relates to Lesotho’s recent past.

Historically, large numbers of men from Lesotho crossed the border to work in South Africa’s mines, forcing women to step into their shoes and take up school places and jobs. Many of the men have now come back, having been retrenched from the mines, and they face a more female-focused world.

Dr Mphu Ramatlapeng, Lesotho’s minister for health and social affairs, attributes this to the government’s pro-women policies. But more than that, she emphasises Lesotho’s culture of learning. “The defining factor is education. I think a lot of women have realised early on that they have to educate their daughters,” she says.

Primary education is free in Lesotho and literacy rates among women exceed those of men – with 95% of women able to read and write, compared with 83% of men. This is filtering into the jobs market – the chief of police is a woman, so too is the speaker of parliament and there are at least a dozen senior female judges presiding over the country’s courts…

Fifty per cent of Lesotho’s population live in the rural areas. Until recently, customary laws applied in the countryside dictated that women were virtually redundant when it came to making key decisions in the home…

The statistics that put Lesotho at the top table in the equality game may look impressive but they risk glossing over the challenges. There may be less of a gap in health, education and political participation than in many other countries, and clearly there is greater political will to recognise the important role of women in society.

The article walks away from the ideological quotient. Religion is a powerful factor in a society still stuck into peasant lifestyles, rural world view. A contradiction in terms if there ever was one.

The predominant religious force is Christianity. The missionaries who accompanied colonial exploitation did their job well. Fortunately, folks haven’t much of a tendency towards Lord’s Army nutballism. Still, acceptance of the status quo, Christian fatalism, distracts attempts to modernize further.

A number of European newspapers have reportedly been told by Apple that they can no longer offer paid print subscribers free access to an iPad edition through the App Store, as the subscription strategy leaves Apple out of its 30 percent cut.

According to a report issued Friday by deVolkskrant (via Google Translate), Apple has employed “stricter rules” for publishers, informing them that they cannot offer free iPad access to paid print subscribers. By offering free access to print subscribers, newspapers could avoid charging for access through the iPad, and can avoid paying Apple a 30 percent cut of all transactions on the App Store…Content providers are upset with the change, characterizing the move as one that makes Apple “too dominant.”

If I was Apple – a stretch I realize – I would do the same. Of course. A share is earned by providing the medium.

The alleged changes sent out to publishers by Apple come as the company is believed to be working on an update to iOS, its mobile operating system that powers the iPad, that will allow recurring subscriptions for software on the App Store. It is Apple’s preparation for the new subscription option that is believed to have allegedly delayed the release of The Daily, a new iPad-only newspaper from media giant News Corporation.

While a number of reports from overseas claim that Apple has contacted publications to inform them of the changes, no such reports have yet emerged from any newspapers in the U.S…

Subscription options can be whatever the parties choose them to be. Of course. Though, if Apple is offering access to methods built into the OS, more than a little consistency and conformity is required.

On paper, it’s just as easy for a newspaper to build in a share to Apple in their basic subscription price – with a sliding scale based on downloads measured in-app.

Earlier this week we reported that Radio Shack had an awesome iPhone deal this week only…however Best Buy plans to call Radio Shack’s bluff and raise it twenty by offering a free iPhone 3GS. The catch is that it’s for one day only… Friday, December 10.

While little is known about the deal for the moment, the free 8 GB iPhone 3GS “giveaway” applies to new accounts, additional lines and qualified upgrades. Reports claim that Best Buy brick-and-mortar outlets have stocked up to the neck to support the promotion. There’s also no need to worry about fronting the $99.99 and getting the money back later as a debit card, as it will be an instant, on-the-spot rebate.

There’s speculation that AT&T is experimenting with pricing in regards to the deals with both Best Buy and Radio Shack, determining which promotion would have a greater turnaround. In either case, hopeful AT&T clients would need to sign the typical 2-year (ball and chain) contract. Those purchasing the iPhone for the first time might find Best Buy’s deal a bargain whereas those looking to trade up might prefer Radio Shack’s incentives instead…

For those looking to get an iPhone 3GS with AT&T, the carrier offers three data plans: DataPro 2 GB for iPhone with Tethering @ $45.00/month, DataPro 2 GB for iPhone only @ $25.00/month and DataPlus 200 MB for iPhone @ $15.00/month. AT&T also charges a one-time activation fee of $36.00, and monthly plans (including messaging) could cost as little as $45.00 before tacking on the data package.

I’m still looking around the Web to see if anyone has more skinny on the deal[s]. I don’t own an iPhone – I’m happy enough Skypeing on my iPad – but, it might be tempting if I could use one on some sort of prepaid plan.

UPDATE: Wandering through Best Buy’s website, it appears they’re offering the same freebie deal on a boatload of smartphones. Rock’n roll!

The geezer shot by cops after botching a Manhattan bank robbery ought to have his picture in the dictionary under “career criminal.”

John Stolarz has been running afoul of the law since he was 18. He’s committed crimes in at least nine states. He’s even busted out of prison a few times. Known by the old-school nickname “Johnny Shades,” the 69-year-old Stolarz was shot Thursday after cops say he tried to stick up a Chase branch with a knife.

He had been out of prison only one day…

He most recent stay in lock-up – 22 years – followed convictions for robbing a string of banks in Louisiana, Nevada, Washington state and Utah.

The strapping ex-con was released from a New Jersey federal prison Wednesday morning and was supposed to go to Philadelphia to pick up a pre-paid ticket to Salt Lake City. He was due to serve eight months in a halfway house…

Stolarz entered the Chase Bank at 2 Penn Plaza and armed with a knife, confronted a woman working in the customer service area. He demand wanted cash, fifties and hundreds.

But she told him there was no money in her section, and when an assistant manager came over and told the suspect much the same thing, he grew agitated…

Shades left, followed by the assistant manager who flagged down a police officer.

That cop and his partner followed Shades down the stairs into Penn Station…finally to a Amtrak loading dock area, where cops say Stolarz, 10-inch steak knife in his hand, refused orders to drop his weapon.

When the 6-foot-1-inch suspect moved toward Officer Edgar Perez, the six-year veteran fired twice, one bullet striking the suspect in his right thigh.

Idiot.

Washington, D.C., will become the first city in the United States to give away female condoms.

The project will distribute 500,000 free condoms at beauty salons, convenience stores and high schools in sections of the city that are plagued with high HIV rates.

The effort could begin within the next three weeks.

A 2008 report showed HIV rates in D.C. to be at 3 percent, making it a major epidemic. Nationally, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among black women between the ages of 25 and 34…

The free female condom effort comes after a decade-long campaign to combat the HIV and AIDS epidemic by distributing free male condoms in Washington, D.C. The effort was largely seen as ineffective.

The female condom was first approved by the FDA in 1993, but its use has been limited. A second version was approved last year and consists of special polyurethane that conducts body heat to enhance sexual sensation for both men and women, the makers say.

All I can ever picture when the topic is female condoms is Edina’s mom in Ab-Fab slipping a couple over her hands and lower arms and enquiring if they’re for dish-washing?

A woman has filed a lawsuit alleging that a Manhattan gym left her hanging when she tried a new workout: pole-dancing.

Sue Ann Wee is seeking unspecified damages from the companies that run the Crunch fitness center chain.

Lawyer Nicholas Warywoda said Wee seriously hurt both her shoulders when she slid down a pole and fell onto the floor while taking a Crunch pole-dancing class in June…

Wee alleges that the gym chain didn’t supervise the pole-dancing class properly…

The steamy dance form has become increasingly popular as exercise in recent years.

I wonder how many pole-dancers ever sue the management if they fall off the pole while working?