Oshawa Military Museum May Have to Sell Historic Tanks

Toronto Sun

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/29/oshawa-military-museum-may-have-to-sell-tanks

Oshawa, Ontario is where The Regiment Museum is found which has a link to history dating back to the 1850's. It has about 70 operational vehicles including the famous Sherman, M60 Patton and M551 Sheridan Tanks, as well as a large variety of armored personnel carriers and jeeps. 

Members of the Ontario Regiment Museum say they may have to sell some of their historic military vehicles in order to keep their doors open to the public. "It is a constant struggle to keep the doors open," said museum spokesperson Terry Woods. "We are in danger of selling some of our vehicles to stay open." He said it takes a great deal of money to maintain all the enormous tanks and heavy equipment. Plus, on top of that you have the cost for fuel for these big diesel downers. 

The museum is primarily supported through donations and fundraising, including the $100 it costs to become a member and volunteer at the museum. A fundraising event is planned for this Saturday at the museum at 1000 Stevenson Rd. N., on the south side of the Oshawa airport. Which will feature a 1945 U.S. made Sherman Tank. 

Aside from being one of the oldest continuously serving reserve regiments in Canada, The Ontario Regiment Museum is also one of the senior armoured regiments in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps. The Ontario Regiment was officially formed from the nine independent rifle companies in on September 14th, 1866.

My Opinion

I think the Ontario Government needs to take action on this. Canadian needs to keep its valuable history that helped to form this very lifestyle we live now. Ontario has already had other museums shut down in the past few weeks and it would sure be a shame if we lost this one too. There is just too much history in this place for it to be auctioned off to some hillbilly. You would think Canada would support one of its longest serving regiments, that has protected this country since the beginning. 

iPhone 5 Could be Unveiled Next Week

Toronto Sun
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/27/new-iphone-could-be-unveiled-next-week

Exciting news for iPhone fans, Apple Inc looks to set next week to unveil its much-awaited new iPhone. Which analysts say will work better with remote computing devices and have a bigger screen. The new iPhone would be the first major product launch under Tim Cook, who took over last month as chief executive after co-founder Steve Jobs resigned last month. It is unclear if Jobs, who is now chairman will take the stage at the event.

Introduced in 2007, the iPhone, with the touchscreen template now adopted by its rivals, remains the gold standard in the booming smartphone market.

The new model, which most have dubbed the iPhone 5, will have a bigger touchscreen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera. Hon Hai Precision Industries Co Ltd and Pegatron Corp of Taiwan will make the new phone, and have been told to gear up capacity for up to 45 million units in total.

The iPhone 4 launched back in June 4th of 2010 in black 16 gigabyte and 32 gigabyte models, and released white ones in April. During the developer event in June is usually when the company refreshes its iPhone lineup, however they delayed the new model this year. Some analysts are expecting another version of the iPhone 4 to be released along with the next model.

"The new (iPhone) 4 will tackle the prepaid market and the (iPhone) 5 will have the A5 chip that's in the iPad and be faster, thinner and possibly with a bigger screen," Colin Gillis, analyst with BCG Partners said. He cited possible voice-recognition features as well. -Toronto Sun

In the third quarter which ended June 25th, Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones. Which analysts say helped it vault past Nokia and Samsung Electronics earning the title of the world's biggest smartphone maker. Shares of Apple rose 0.6 percent to $405.66 on Nasdaq early Tuesday afternoon.

My Opinion


To be honest, it really doesn't matter when Apple releases their new model, they are already taking over the electronic market, and already have enough power to keep going without a new product. Whether its next week, next month, or next year, they are still making large amounts of profit, and will probably double that profit with the release of a new laptop.

I think it would be very interesting if Apple bought out another mobile phone company to expand their company, however this is unlikely to happen because they are already large enough and have differentiated themselves from the other companies, which is what makes them so successful. They are always launching new, which creates the excitement and demand for the "new thing". Nobody ever wants to have old technology, we all want to walk down the street with our paper thin phone pressed against our ear, and our 3D laptops in our backpacks.

Research Exposes Rise In Bluetooth Security Risks

Codenomicon, a Finnish data security firm, says software faults in Bluetooth devices are becoming easier to exploit, putting users at risk. 

Bluetooth radio technology is becoming more and more popular, as it is widely used to connect cellphones and other Bluetooth devices to their accessories. And the security of these devices has never been considered a major issue.

However, in a research paper, Codenomicon said that it found critical problems in all Bluetooth-enabled car-kits it tested this year.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Bluetooth car-kits allow users to talk hands-free while they drive. Faulty security can give criminals access to important information on users phones and coding errors could lead to corruption to the car's electronic system and put drivers safety at risk.

"The problems are in the implementation. Coders make human mistakes," said technology chief Ari Takanen. Adding in that deciding which device was more secure was extremely difficult.

"Quality of the software is rarely visible to consumers."

When asked to comment on the findings, Bluetooth industry lobby Bluetooth SIG said the technology was secure.

"One of the reasons these members pick Bluetooth wireless technology is because of the strong security Bluetooth technology can provide through effective implementations of the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) who build these products," said Mike Foley, Bluetooth SIG's executive director.

My Opinion

As the industry is quickly expanding, and it becomes more and more popular and the demand for Bluetooth products is increasing, the security on these devices needs to be top notch. Especially with the new rules that Ontario is implementing about being on your cell phone while driving, people are buying Bluetooth devices to cure the addiction. I am convinced that pretty soon Bluetooth will become standard in all vehicles, meaning the security of these devices has to be able to defend against criminals.  If not, massive amounts of personal data could be leaked, leading to a technology crisis and major controversy.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/23/bluetooth-devices-security-risks-rising-research

American Hikers Finally Released From Iran Prison

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/world/middleeast/iranian-lawyer-says-2-american-hikers-hopefully-are-about-to-be-freed.html?_r=3&hp

It all began when Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal where backpacking through the outback and they wandered over the border from Iraq by mistake, however their situation became quickly entangled with Iran's foreign and domestic politics. In the last few days, their fate became of part of what analysts call a power struggle. A dispute between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the conservative establishment he has angered.

"Mr. Ahmadinejad had promised last week that the men would be freed as a humanitarian gesture, "in a couple days""- New York Times. It seemed as the announcement was to gain favourable attention for the Iranian leader before he flew out to New York to attend this week's United Nations General Assembly meeting.

However soon after his announcement, Iran's judiciary denied that the men would be freed imminently, saying it took exclusive authority to order their release and striking a very public blow to the presidents standing.

"Analysts said they believed that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s conservative critics were willing to allow the release Wednesday because they wanted Iran to project a magnanimous image as it takes to the world stage and because they had accomplished their goal: delivering a message to the president that he is not fully in charge" (New York Times).

In the end they weren't going to completely undermine the president of the country, but they did make their point.

Ahmadinejad got what he wanted, the men were release before his speech at the United Nations, however the judiciary got what they wanted as well.

Before the Americans’ arrival in Oman, their families said in a prepared statement that “the joy and relief we feel at Shane and Josh’s long-awaited freedom knows no bounds” and that they would now “catch up on two lost years and make a new beginning, for them and for all of us.”

My Opinion

I believe that the United Nations needs to address the issue of governmental corruption in some countries such as Iran at one of their gatherings.These men were put in jail, without any evidence that was presented to the public, on the belief that they were American spies. They were also charged a $500,000 bailout fee for the two men, an unethical and unfair agreement for the United States Government. Iran's judiciary should not be allowed to hold these men in confinement for two years, based on the belief that they were American spies. Number one I think they should have to produce visible evidence to the public, and number two, I think they should have a discussion with Iraq, in order to determine a suitable punishment.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/19/passports-cost.html

Canadians could end up spending a lot more than the standard $87 for a passport in the near future when the new electronic (e-passports) go mainstream.

The first version issued to top government officials cost $225 as claimed in an expense file by Stephen Harper. The cost of e-passports for Harper and his family was picked up by taxpayers.

Passport Canada is in the midst of consulting Canadians on e-passports. As stated in an email response to CBCNews.CA on Monday.

E-passports are valid for five years, just like the current standard versions. A similar passport with a chip in the U.S. costs $135 and lasts 10 years.

The main difference with an e-passport is security and preventing fraud. The chip holds key personal data such as the holder’s photo and your country's specific signature that proves the passport was issued by the Government of Canada. The visible photo must match the photo stored on the chip as well as the ghost photo printed in ultraviolet ink. The chip is also electronically locked, so it will indicate if someone as accessed the information stored on it and tampered it, and fraud will be detected.

Passport Canada points out that 95 other countries, including the U.S. and U.K., use the e-passport with "no reported chip failures". In the unlikely event that a chip cannot be read, the passport is still valid because is still contains all of the security features on the current, non-electronic Canadian passport.

This is obviously way too much money for Canadians to be spending on passports and a tax grab at that. I would assume that Passport Canada wold reduce this ridiculous price, because I don't think many people would buy a new passport at this price, especially for your family. 

I am also not convinced that it has that much more security potential because we all know that electronic things have glitches and issues that can ruin them, and I think this is what is going to start happening to the chips located inside the passport. If a credit card with a chip in it costs little to nothing and has about the same amount of personal information on it, then why is a passport so expensive?