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For smartphone fans around the world, things really started to get interesting over the past couple of months. First, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S5 flagship smartphone in late February, revealing a smartphone that was quite impressive and touted a number of great new features, but failed to live up to the hype stirred up by dozens of rumors. Then, HTC unveiled its own flagship phone, the HTC One (M8), and launched it the very same day.

Speak, Fido: Device Promises Dog Translations A dog may be man's best friend, but if people ever figure out what dogs are really thinking, will the friendship sour? That's a risk that a few inventors in Europe are willing to take: They've received funding to develop "No More Woof," an electronic device that promises to analyze dogs' brain waves and translate a few of their thoughts into rudimentary English. It's still a work in progress, but once No More Woof is ready for the market, it will join a wide range of other scientific efforts aimed at "breaking the language...

An interesting concise analysis and admonition of speech patterns in today's America by comedian, Taylor Mali. ( Not sure of topics, so I called it an editorial)

In a Sunday evening statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Public Affairs Office released this statement, meant to clear up information on the National Security Agency’s data program "The statement that a single analyst can eavesdrop on domestic communications without proper legal authorization is incorrect and was not briefed to Congress. Members have been briefed on the implementation of Section 702, that it targets foreigners located overseas for a valid foreign intelligence purpose, and that it cannot be used to target Americans anywhere in the world," the full statement reads.

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"First you win the argument -- then you win the vote," is the now well-known quote from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. President Ronald Reagan was the last Republican president who understood and used that strategy. President Barack Obama and his team also understand the phrase and are using it to their advantage. They are making a full-court press in the public arena to lay out their argument against sequestration and for more taxes. "In a few days," Obama said this week in Virginia, "Congress might allow a series of immediate, painful, arbitrary budget cuts to take place -- known in...

A few months ago I went to an all expenses paid job interview in another city. The interview went well and I was one of the top 2-3 candidates. However I did not get the job, which is fine by me for reasons that I will mention later on in this post. I did however find the ‘rejection’ email interesting because it is one of the better examples of what passes for communication in the corporate environment today. Here is the name-redacted email..

The first time I saw Chris Christie on television, shortly after he became governor of New Jersey, my immediate reaction was, "My Gosh! A Talking Republican!" It was almost like seeing a talking giraffe or a talking salamander. Technically speaking, Republicans do talk, but talking is definitely not their strong suit. Nor do they seem to have put a lot of thought into what they say or how they say it. The net result is that articulate Democrats can get away with the biggest lies, without any serious rebuttal from most Republicans. I have not heard any Republican official or...

When Caren Berg told colleagues at a recent staff meeting, "There's new people you should meet," her boss Don Silver broke in, says Ms. Berg, a senior vice president at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., marketing and crisis-communications company. "I cringe every time I hear" people misuse "is" for "are," Mr. Silver says. The company's chief operations officer, Mr. Silver also hammers interns to stop peppering sentences with "like." For years, he imposed a 25-cent fine on new hires for each offense. "I am losing the battle," he says. Managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace. Many...

There have been few languages in world history that were spoken by more people as a second language than as a first. English has had that distinction for several decades already. Now, there are more people learning it in a given year than it has native speakers The second President of the United States, John Adams, predicted in 1780 that “English will be the most respectable language in the world and the most universally read and spoken in the next century, if not before the end of this one.” It is destined “in the next and succeeding centuries to be...

Neutrinos are having a moment. They’re speeding across Europe (just how fast is under review), they’re changing flavors in China and, now, they’re carrying rudimentary messages through bedrock in Illinois. A team of physicists encoded a short string of letters on a beam of neutrinos at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., and sent the message to a detector more than a kilometer away. On the journey the neutrinos passed through 240 meters of solid rock, mostly shale. What was the word they transmitted in the preliminary demonstration? “Neutrino.” The experiment is described in a paper posted to the...

.........In 1995, Gingrich, then speaker of the House, wrote a memo for GOPAC, which trains Republican candidates, citing language as "a key mechanism of control used by a majority party." In his inimitable, insufferable fashion, he went on to say that his videotaped GOPAC courses had elicited a "plaintive plea: 'I wish I could speak like Newt.' "That takes years of practice. But we believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases,".. He went on...

What usually is a treasured opportunity for cross generational chit-chat became a silent car ride as a luminescent glow eerily lighted his facial features in the back seat. My grandson has mastered a hand-held electronic thinga-ma-jig which muted what had previously been a casual forum for conversations about life-in-the-now and even life-everlasting. No knock-knock jokes. No “Hey, look, a horse trailer and it has horses inside!” No seemingly insignificant queries such as, “Justin says there is no God. Is that true?” Where once we easily conversed about hurt feelings, roadside beggars, birthdays, bullies and the like, this day the unilateral...

20 or so people in there, half of them under 30 going for their technician. I was one of 2 in there to upgrade to general, and one showed up for the highest class, amateur extra. Anyways, I ask this kid (22-25yo) "Why are you getting into ham radio"? He matter-of-factly said, "For the upcoming zombie apocalypse". I laughed and half the room turned around, glad to proclaim the same, hell even bragging about it! A couple more admitted that they were embarrased to say that but essentially that is why they were there. I found out with a little...

Prayer stands as a key component of a Christian’s life. When a Christian prays they share their gratefulness, reverence, thoughts, concerns, and needs with the Eternal Father. Even non-Christians talk to God at times in their lives. However, prayer represents only one side of communication with God. Men need to let God talk. Unfortunately, the wide majority of the world refuses to give God the opportunity. If they would let Him talk, they would be much better equipped for the lives that they have been given.Those who give God the chance to talk to them learn: God created the heavens...

Remember Ronald Reagan the Great Communicator. In my opinion, he was a great leader, because he was a great communicator. I the GOP primaries, Newt Gingrich is by far the best speaker, orator, and communicator. Since he espouses the conservative values, methods and action plans that we mostly agree with and since he does give the best, most interesting and easy to listen to speeches, he has the potential to be the best candidate against Obama and to be the best president to help we Americans to clean up the mess made by the Obama administration. Also, Gingrich is not-only...

SOPA is legislation designed to regulate how digital communication is used. SOPA will be voted on this month.

A lot of preppers are talking about Ham radio as a communications system during and after an SHTF event. The ability to listen and even talk with people vast distances away in real time is powerful tool. For a very long time I’ve wanted to get an Amateur Radio license (“Ham”). For one reason or another I never undertook the study and the test. Until now. I have just passed my Technician’s license exam! (as of writing this) While it will still be a couple of weeks before I get my official station call sign, I’m very excited and already...

.....5. Rick Perry had the most publicized communication failure of the year with his brain freeze in remembering his third point in a very public setting. The Rule of Three is good, but you don’t want to say “There are three things…” in advance in a very public forum such as a Presidential Debate unless you know you will remember them. Or have them in your notes. So he could have topped the Worst list with that faux pax along with his early amateurish debate performances, marked by halting mannerisms, jerky style and hostile attacks. But he’s here in the...

The university hands down a new edict about punctuation -- but the world's grammar nerds will never back downGrammar lovers today were saddened, shocked, and mightily displeased at the news that the P.R. department of the University of Oxford has decided to drop the comma for which it is so justly famed. As GalleyCat reported, the university's new style guide advises writers, "As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write 'a, b and c' not 'a, b, and c'." Cue the collective gasps of horror. The last time the nerd community was this cruelly betrayed, George...