- For both the illiterate and the smartphone-enslaved, Ford has great news. The automaker is installing a feature in its new vehicles -- and many of its older ones -- that can read text messages out loud. On the surface, the feature is designed to eliminate the safety hazard of texting while driving. It is part of Ford's voice-activated technology, Sync, and is already installed on all model 2012 Ford vehicles with the exception of the Ranger. Utilizing a Bluetooth connection, it syncs with phones and alerts users when they receive text messages, then reads them out loud and allows users to respond with a number of canned, pre-written messages without having to actually pick up the phone. For those who ain’t so good at readin’ or writin’, the system would allow them to lean on their phone as a reader and have someone else writing out their responses for them in advance - win-win. Those who cannot separate themselves from their Droid, iPhone or BlackBerry will also enjoy the feature, which will be made available as an upgrade to Sync vehicles that are model 2010 or later. Ford drivers will be able to download the upgrade from the Ford Sync site onto a USB drive along with print-out instructions. Older models that have Sync will soon be able to make the update as well, says supervisor of Sync product development Mark Porter. Adding the feature was a wise decision for Ford, which can now a) raise the price of new models a bit to justify it (and they will even if they don’t say so) and b) thump its chest about being concerned about road safety. It can point to a 2009 study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute which found that texting while driving increased the risk of a truck getting into an accident by more than 23 times and say, “We’re doing our part to alleviate this problem from the nation’s roadways.” Porter believes the new feature is a platform that more phone and vehicle manufacturers will soon expand upon. The one group left out of this party for now is iPhone users, as their devices do not support the technology. All BlackBerry devices and most Android phones do. Now get your eyes back on the road and resume reading this story once you reach your destination…………
- It is about freaking time. For too long America has been getting soft (and not just because of our collective girth and flabby physique) and the world has been laughing at us. This is one major step toward reclaiming our national self-respect and showing that the United States is still a force to be reckoned with. Courtesy of an uplifting government announcement made Tuesday, the world now knows that nearly 400,000 people were deported from the United States in the past fiscal year, the largest number in the history of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. That’s right, the U.S. has given just shy of half a million undesirables the boot in the last 12 months and the ICE said in a statement the numbers "underscore the administration's focus on removing individuals ... that fall into priority areas" such as lawbreakers, threats to national security and repeat violators. A total of 396,906 individuals were removed from the country in fiscal year 2011, of which 55 percent had been convicted of felonies or misdemeanors. Those 216,698 deported thugs represent an 89 percent increase of criminals from three years ago, the agency said. "This includes 1,119 aliens convicted of homicide; 5,848 aliens convicted of sexual offenses; 44,653 aliens convicted of drug related crimes; and 35,927 aliens convicted of driving under the influence," it said in its statement. Some regions, such as the sector covering Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Christi, Texas, had a significantly higher percentage of deportees who had criminal records, said Gregory Palmore of the agency's Houston office. Agency officials hailed the number of deportation as significant process and for once, government officials have said something correct and intelligent. "These year-end totals indicate that we are making progress, with more convicted criminals, recent border crossers, egregious immigration law violators and immigration fugitives being removed from the country than ever before,” said agency Director John Morton. Well said, J. Mort. You know you are on the right track when the American Civil Liberties Union reacts to one of your announcements by denouncing the current administration's policies on a given issue. "All told, this administration has deported nearly 1.2 million people, leaving a wake of devastation in Latino communities across the nation," Joanne Lin, ACLU legislative counsel, said in a news release. Waaaaaaah! Stuff it, Joanne. Stop hassling Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and her crew as they attempt to reclaim America’s pride by informing hundreds of thousands of worthless excuses for human beings that they are no longer welcome here. Get on board with the campaign of you could be next, whiny ALCU officials…………
- Lance Berkman couldn’t have made a wrong call during free agency this past winter. After hitting a combined .248 last year between Houston and the New York Yankees, the six-time All-Star could have signed with any team as an unrestricted free agent. The Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals both pursued him heavily, but Berkman elected to sign with St. Louis because he did not believe the Rangers would make a return trip to the World Series. He told a Houston radio station in January that the Rangers were an "average team" without star pitcher Cliff Lee, and that they caught "lightning in a bottle and they got hot" and made it to the Series last season. He went so far as to belittle the rest of the Rangers’ pitching staff, saying they performed "better than their talent level and, consequently, they had a great year." For a player as well-liked around the game as Berkman, the comments were a bit surprising. But hey, he was signing with a team in the other league and what were the odds his words would come back to bite him? How about 100 percent? With the World Series kicking off Wednesday night in St. Louis, Berkman will be in the middle of the lineup against the very team he wanted nothing to do with during the offseason. Knowing he will have to face angry Texas fans ready to throw his words right back in his face once the series shifts to Texas for Games 3, 4 and possibly 6, Berkman headed the issue off during an interview Tuesday. "I'm not afraid to say, 'Hey, I wasn't right,'" Berkman said. "Certainly the last thing I want is to have the entire state of Texas to be mad at me. I don't want to disrespect any players the Rangers have, because they have a fine baseball team. I think if you say enough things publicly, eventually you're going to say some things that are probably not great, and that's the case here." In his defense, Berkman did have a great season in St. Louis, reviving his career by hitting .301 with 31 homers and 94 RBI. He was selected to the All-Star Game and clearly made the right call for himself, but still wanted to make sure he apologized for his remarks. He sought out Rangers ace C.J. Wilson during team workouts at Busch Stadium on Tuesday to apologize in person to for his comments about the Texas pitching staff. "There was actually a note in my locker from Lance saying, 'Hey, congratulations on your guys' success. I guess I was wrong. Not the first time," Wilson said. Wilson publicly laughed off Berkman’s remarks, but one could safely surmise that striking out the cleanup hitter in the St. Louis lineup at any point in the series would put an extra-large smile on the face of any Rangers pitcher……….
- Vietnam is one giant step closer to solving all of its national problems. Like so many countries around the world, the Asian nation is suffering through tough economic times and battling environmental issues as well. Vietnamese Transport Minister Dinh La Thang has his own issues to deal with, trying to oversee transportation issues in a largely impoverished country. Realizing the degree of difficulty in front of him, Thang decided to do something drastic. He decided to tackle a problem that has plagued offices, governments and companies around the world for decades, eroding work ethic and hindering productivity: golf. Many a day of work has been put off so some middle manager or cubicle dweller can go out on the last nice day of the fall or the first warm day of the spring or some random Friday in June to play 18 with their boys. With that in mind, Thang has banned his senior staff from playing golf, saying it distracts them from their work too much. He issued a statement saying that some ministry leaders have had subpar performance of late and that part of the problem was they spent too much time playing golf. Not long after the statement was released, the ministry's website posted a statement late explaining Thang has ordered all senior ministry officials and executives of corporations under the ministry not to play golf. The order comes down at a time when golf has become more popular among Vietnam's growing middle class, including Communist Party officials. Golf courses have become much more common around the country, but Thang is of the belief that his staffers should steer clear of them during these tough economic times. The announcement did not provide specifics on how Thang plans to enforce the ban, be it spies planted in the clubhouse at all local courses, having course owners send him weekly logs of their surveillance footage or some other means. But this should certainly address many of Vietnam’s more pressing problems……………
- While it may not be the sort of statistic a network can cite while running ubiquitous promos for its primetime shows, ABC really should find some way to tout the unique success of Modern Family, a half-hour comedy airing on Wednesday night. The show may not be the top-rated comedy on television (or even close), but that doesn’t mean viewers aren't tuning in. They’re just tuning in when they damn well please, that’s all. Through the first two weeks of the season, an average of 4.5 million viewers watched a recording of "Modern Family" after it first appeared on the air, according to the Nielsen Co. A solid 14 million people watched the show when it aired, but nearly one-third of that amount DVR-ed it and watched it later. That figure could be spun two ways: 1) More and more people are recording shows digitally and fitting them in to their busy schedule or 2) The show simply isn't good enough for viewers to rearrange their schedules around it and they have better things to do at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays. Spin it whichever way you will, but the DVR crowd did lift the ratings for the show’s most recent episode to 18.5 million. The numbers also made “Modern Family” the most-watched DVR show within seven days of its original airing. Look for networks to watch this phenomenon much more closely as more and more viewers make use of TiVo or DVR and create a cache of their favorite shows because they’re busy working two jobs to make ends meet. Now we can all look forward to the upcoming ABC promos touting, “Tune in for a new ‘Modern Family’ Wednesday at 9 p.m., or whenever you can get around to it.” Sounds like a surefire strategy………..
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