penlau software

The Blink Level 2 Pedestal EVSE charging station from Ecotality intended for commercial use (Credit:Ecotality) Ecotality unveiled Tuesday what will be one of the first commercially available charging stations specifically designed for electric vehicles and plug-in electric vehicles. The Ecotality Blink line of charging stations, which will initially be implemented as part of the national EV Project, consists of a free-standing commercial model and a wall-mountable home model both made to work via a 240-volt AC input. The Blink Level 2 wall mount charger for the home can be installed in a[....]

The Chevy Volt races to market. (Credit:GM) For the price of the Volt, you could buy almost two hybrids from competitors. But in these early days of electric vehicles, a cold economic analysis doesn’t really apply. Ending years of speculation, General Motors on Tuesday said the Chevy Volt will cost $41,000 or can be leased for $350 a month over three years with a $2,500 payment. The price tag appeared to have surprised many people who wondered how a car with that price can be aimed at mainstream consumers, which is GM’s intention in making an electric-gas hybrid with a longer[....]

When I see headlines like this I wonder what century we are in. You’d think in the year 2010 that background checks of school officials would have been implemented 20 years ago. In New Jersey background checks for school employees have been in place since 1986. But not for school officials. Still to this day municipalities across the country are still determining who should or shouldn’t be checked. A new bill in New Jersey would disqualify school board members from serving if they’ve been convicted of serious crimes. Further, it would require them to pay for the cost to get[....]

I’ve come out in favor of the Electoral College before (see here).  Among other things, the EC ensures that Presidents get broad support as opposed to simply the most support, it gives minorities a bigger voice, and it makes vote fraud much more difficult.  See here for an FEC paper on the origins of the EC, and it makes for very informative reading, especially on the reason that the Founders decided not to go with a direct popular vote for the President.  (The paper was last updated in 1992, but the history is what’s important.) In Wednesday’s “Best[....]

The Washington Post had an AP scare headline: Medical device problems hurt 70,000+ kids annually. Oh Heavens, another headline for doctor haters to point fingers at hard working docs. So ignore the headline, and let’s go to the Journal Pediatrics to see what the real story is. First of all, the definition of “medical devices” is quite broad. If you ever scratched your eye putting on your glasses or eye protectors, you’re on their list.  If your 8 year old got Grandmom’s wheelchair or scooter and raced it down the corridor of her apartment building, and[....]

Unlike their TextPattern friends who are still waiting to embrace the iVerse, lovers of ExpressionEngine (a premium blog service for “elite bloggers”) can now blog from their iDevices thanks in part to a third party company. We have just released iExpression for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. iExpression does not require any add-ons other than those shipped with every copy of ExpressionEngine and supports all 1.X and 2.X versions. iExpression enables posting and post management for multiple sites, but is also the perfect tool for developers to supply to their customers to[....]

In their never ending quest to thwart spammers online, Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com) has announced that bloggers on custom domains can purchase private registration in order to prevent spammers, trolls and (God forbid) stalkers from contacting you with unwanted messages. Starting today you can add the private registration upgrade when you buy a domain, or if you have an existing domain registered on WordPress.com you can make it private at any time. If your domain expires in less than six months in the current year you’ll get the rest of the year free but you will have to[....]

The blockbuster book “The Pillars of the Earth” will probably become a blockbuster miniseries, if the promise of the first episode continues. The plot of the book has it all: A king without an heir, whose son was probably assassinated when his boat was sabotaged, a wicked bishop who is trying to manipulate things to get his candidate chosen as the next king, a King’s daughter who as a proto-feminist resents that she cannot be the next monarch, and the horrors to common folks of a civil war that will hurt the innocent more than the nobility. Against the forces of anarchy[....]

Advanced Micro Devices passed Nvidia in graphics chip shipments in the second quarter, according to a report from a marketing research firm on Wednesday, adding to Nvidia’s woes. AMD’s ATI graphics unit took 51 percent of the standalone, or “discrete,” graphics chip market compared to Nvidia’s share that was just shy of 49 percent, according to Mercury Research, a Cave Creek, Arizona firm that tracks graphics chip shipments. This is a sharp reversal from the same period a year ago when Nvidia had about 59 percent of the market and AMD had just under 41[....]

In Cleveland the county Sheriff checks to see if registered sex offenders are in fact living where they say they do. Determining the currently location of a sex offender helps law enforcement and the community to know if the sex offender is in compliance or maybe hiding and possibly up to no good. One would think if they are compliant, they are trying to assimilate. Certainly they can be up to no good if they are compliant with the registry, but this is just another reason to check on them. In Cleveland about 2/3rds claim to live at a mens homeless shelter. But reports state none of them[....]

The following is an article by Fathers & Families Board Member, Robert Franklin, Esq.:One of my first jaw-dropping experiences in the fathers’ rights arena came back in 1999. I was researching the phenomenon of men who had learned after the fact – and sometimes long after the fact – that they’d fathered a child. I was interested in what happened to their parental rights if a mother kept a man’s child secret from him. I was astonished to learn that the rights of such a dad could vanish into thin air. The rule in many states was that, since he hadn’t actively cared[....]

I have a good friend who runs a publishing company, his speciality is history. He told me once “Only by looking backwards can you move forward”. It is a very true statement. I might be tempted to say “We are what we were”. It is often that by examining the past we can make sense of the present, and on rare occasions even make predictions about the future. When it comes to the Caylee Anthony case, there are very few that see freedom in the future of mother Casey Anthony. She faces not a Guilty/Not Guilty situation, but rather a life or death one. Personally I cannot see the[....]

After remaining in a dormant state for almost a year in a half, the LiveJournal team has resurrected the iPhone app previously created by CosySoftware and have adopted it as their own. We’re pleased to announce that the new LiveJournal iPhone app is available for free in the Apple store! Be sure to download the application labeled “LiveJournal Inc.” (Official LiveJournal News) As far as creating content goes, the LiveJournal app is the most advanced mobile blogging app in the app store, one that rivals (if not exceeds) WordPress and Squarespace, as well as a host of[....]

In their ever vigilant quest to protect Americans from terrorism, the US government is now requesting Congress to relieve them of the need to seek a judges permission before obtaining information from a web master. The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation. The administration wants to add just four words — “electronic communication transactional records”[....]

Non-Partner content developers uploading videos to YouTube can now provide multimedia up to 15 minutes in length. The company announced today that they have extended their 10-minute time limit effective immediately. YouTube has announced that the extension is being given since they now have more copyright controls available for content providers, which means it is less likely that users will upload copies of TV series, movies and other copyrighted materials without being censored. To promote the new 15-minute extension YouTube has launched “15 Minutes Of Fame” a contest in[....]

Three and a half years after introducing the concept Chevy Volt electriccar, General Motors is finally answering the question of its price: $41,000 before a federal tax credit. GM disclosed the pricing and touted the 340-mile range of the Chevy Volt on Tuesday at a conference on plug-in vehicles in San Jose, Calif. The cost of a lease is $350 a month for 36 months with a $2,500 down payment. The Volt, which has an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty, qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit, which brings the net purchase price to $33,500 after receiving the credit. The Chevy[....]

“Home invasions are especially frightening because the robber may not care who is home or who gets hurt,” states News 12. We’ve often discussed how the home invader lacks a certain gene that many of us have called “compassion”. A home invader thrives on the chaos, fear and panic of a home invasion and ultimately the invader doesn’t care if anyone gets hurt. Home invaders often take their act to another level and go far beyond “theft” and escalate to physical violence that involves beatings, rape and torture often resulting in murder. In Richmond City GA, Richmond County[....]

It’s no secret that there are kooky people both online and on the ground. The problem with the online part is kooky people seem to gravitate there. My theory is that those who have ulterior motives, an agenda of sorts, may believe they can lure in their victims easier online. I can see why they’d think that. It’s easier to lie online. There’s no body language, no intonation in ones voice, and no emotional connection to the real person. Simply put, it’s harder for a person’s sixth sense to connect with an avatar. When communicating online a person who might normally lack[....]

The following is an article by Fathers & Families Board Member, Robert Franklin, Esq.:At least in Germany they admit it. In 2003, Harshad, a British citizen of Indian descent, had a baby daughter with his German girlfriend. Knowing nothing of Germany’s idiosyncratic custody laws, Harshad went along with his girlfriend’s suggestion that they skip the laborious process of registering joint custody.It wasn’t until the couple split that Harshad discovered the enormity of that choice.“I had no idea it would cause so many problems,” said Harshad, a 44-year-old IT professional.[....]

A bit of an uproar in Massachusetts, where the local papers have discovered that Senator Kerry bought a yacht, but has parked it in nearby Rhode Island to get out of paying the local sales tax. The good news is that, now that he has been caught and shamed, he will pay the half million dollar sales tax. The dirty little secret is that there are lots of places where people buy “big ticket” items across the state line to save a couple of bucks. This is illegal, but rarely prosecuted for small ticket items. And then there are internet sales. I used to buy books from Amazon, since[....]