2,000 Locals To Be Cast For Movie With Matt Damon, Kate Winslet « CBS San Francisco
Someone I know went to the audition today, I really want to ask her how it was going...
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Golden Gate Bridge to move to all-electronic tolls
Golden Gate Bridge to move to all-electronic tolls
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Final decision expected on Golden Gate toll takers
Updated on: 2011-01-28 15:01:49
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District's board of directors approved a proposal this morning to collect tolls electronically only on the bridge starting in September 2012.
The vote was 13-2, district spokeswoman Mary Currie said.
The district's Finance Committee approved the plan Thursday by an 8-3 vote.
The district said two-thirds of bridge users now pay the toll using FasTrak and only 33 percent pay cash.
Collecting tolls electronically will save $19.2 million over 10 years starting in 2012, according to the district.
Eliminating 28 full-time and four part-time toll collectors and two vault employees will save $16.3 million in wages and benefits. The base salary of a toll collector ranges between $48,672 and $54,080 a year, according to the district.
Currie said some of the toll collectors may find other jobs as other employees retire.
The district faces an $89 million deficit over the next five years. Converting to electronic toll collection was among 33 initiatives approved by the board in October when the projected five-year deficit was $132 million.
Bridge users who do not use FasTrak will still have their license plate read. They will be sent a bill for the toll or they can pay it at kiosks in Bay Area stores. They may also pay with a credit or debit card over the phone or on the Web.
Story posted 2011.01.28 at 01:28 PM PST
All material © 2011 ABC Inc., KGO-TV Inc. & 2004-2011 LSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Víctor Lei
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Man sues Apple over glass on iPhone 4
Man sues Apple over glass on iPhone 4
Story posted 2011.01.27 at 06:09 AM PSTApple has not responded to a California man's lawsuit that alleges the iPhone 4 has a manufacturing defect.
Donald Lebuhn says the defect causes the phone's housing to break after "reasonable use."
He claims when his daughter dropped it from a height of three feet, the phone's glass shattered even despite a protective bumper. Lebuhn is suing for monetary damages and injunctions to force Apple to give customers options for replacing damaged glass.
Apple ads call its glass "ultra-durable."
Story posted 2011.01.27 at 06:09 AM PST
All material © 2011 ABC Inc., KGO-TV Inc. & 2004-2011 LSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Víctor Lei
Firefox, Google add "Do Not Track" tools
Firefox, Google add "Do Not Track" tools
Story posted 2011.01.24 at 02:53 PM PSTThe Firefox and Google Chrome browsers are getting tools to help users block advertisers from collecting information about them.
Alex Fowler, a technology and privacy officer for Firefox maker Mozilla, said the "Do Not Track" tool will be the first in a series of steps designed to guard privacy. He didn't say when the tool will be available.
Google Chrome users can now download a browser plug-in that blocks advertisers -- but only from ad networks that already let people decline personalized, targeted ads. According to Google Inc., these include the top 15 advertising networks, as rated by the research group comScore, a group that includes AOL Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google itself.
The next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser, which is still being developed, will include a similar feature, though people will have to create or find their own lists of sites they want to block.
Google and Mozilla, however, are developing tracking-protection tools that will work automatically -- once people decide to turn on that privacy feature, that is.
Microsoft, Google and Mozilla's promises of stronger privacy comes on the heels of government complaints that online advertisers are able to collect too much data about people in their quest to target ads.
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission recommended the creation of a "Do Not Track" tool that would invite consumers to restrict advertisers from collecting information about them, including the websites they visit, the links they click, their Internet searches and their online purchases.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department last month called for guidelines that would require online advertisers to warn consumers what information about them they are collecting and how they plan to use it. Consumers, the department said, should be able to "opt out," or decline, some or all of that data collection. And if companies do collect information, they would be required to store it securely.
Google product managers Sean Harvey and Rajas Moonka said the new Chrome tool will allow for more permanent ad blocking. Before, opt-out settings were typically stored through small files known as cookies; when users clear cookies, however, the opt-out settings get erased, too. Another benefit is that the new tool allows users to opt out of all participating ad networks at once, rather than one at a time.
Google eventually hopes to develop a similar plug-in for other browsers as well, Harvey and Moonka added.
Story posted 2011.01.24 at 02:53 PM PST
All material © 2011 ABC Inc., KGO-TV Inc. & 2004-2011 LSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Víctor Lei
Supe Jane Kim refuses to recite Pledge of Allegiance
Supe Jane Kim refuses to recite Pledge of Allegiance
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Supe Jane Kim refuses to recite Pledge of Allegiance
Updated on: 2011-01-26 22:06:23
San Francisco's city charter calls for all Board of Supervisors meetings to begin with the Pledge of Allegiance, but there is no requirement that members have to actually say it. Newly-elected District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim chooses not to and her refusal has become a hot topic on radio talk shows, the blogs and other news programs.
Kim does stand with the rest of the Supervisors but stays silent. She objects to the words in the pledge "with liberty and justice for all."
"I don't believe we are a nation with liberty and justice for all, yet," Kim told the San Francisco Examiner.
Kim says she is very loyal to America and points to her years of service as a civil rights lawyer and community organizer. She also served as president of the school board before her election as supervisor.
Colleague and Board President David Chiu says he "absolutely supports Supervisor Kim's perspective." Chiu recites the pledge himself, but says he doesn't see the controversy in Kim choosing not to.
"I know her as someone who is absolutely patriotic, who loves her country," Chiu said.
On the Ronn Owen's show on KGO Radio, some listeners criticized Kim's decision. One caller said as a public official, "She has an image to put out there that she is supporting the country."
Kim represents District Six, which is a diverse area ranging from the rough and tumble Tenderloin to the posh South Beach neighborhood. Constituents ABC7 talked with said as long as Kim is representing the district's needs well, they have no problem with her refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Kim is out of town and did not return phone calls asking for comment.
Story posted 2011.01.26 at 07:06 PM PST
All material © 2011 ABC Inc., KGO-TV Inc. & 2004-2011 LSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Víctor Lei
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Fwd: Lost Cash Found
Anybody lost money?
Víctor Lei
Víctor Lei
Begin forwarded message:
From: abarnes@ccsf.edu
Date: January 25, 2011 13:12:17 PST
To: lvctr@yahoo.com
Subject: Lost Cash Found
Dear Students:
The Police Departments lost & found unit has received a sum of cash turned in by a student and would like to find the owner to claim funds. If you have lost money during the first week of school please contact the Police Chief's assistant at 239-3025. You must be prepared to give detailed information on the amount, when and where you may have lost the cash and other pertinent information. Anyone attempting to claim the funds under fraudulent means may be subject to disciplinary actions as well as criminal sanctions.
Chief Andre Barnes
SFCCPD
Andre' L. Barnes
Chief of Police
San Francisco Community College District Police Department
50 Phelan Avenue Rm C120
San Francisco, Ca 94112
Fwd: Lost Cash Found
Who lost the money? I think that's not mine… Because I don't carry a lot of cash…
Víctor Lei
Víctor Lei
Begin forwarded message:
From: abarnes@ccsf.edu
Date: January 25, 2011 13:12:17 PST
To: wlei1@mail.ccsf.edu
Subject: Lost Cash Found
Dear Students:
The Police Departments lost & found unit has received a sum of cash turned in by a student and would like to find the owner to claim funds. If you have lost money during the first week of school please contact the Police Chief's assistant at 239-3025. You must be prepared to give detailed information on the amount, when and where you may have lost the cash and other pertinent information. Anyone attempting to claim the funds under fraudulent means may be subject to disciplinary actions as well as criminal sanctions.
Chief Andre Barnes
SFCCPD
Andre' L. Barnes
Chief of Police
San Francisco Community College District Police Department
50 Phelan Avenue Rm C120
San Francisco, Ca 94112
Monday, January 24, 2011
Apple app store hits 10 billion downloads
Apple app store hits 10 billion downloads
Story posted 2011.01.23 at 06:26 PM PSTApple says that its app store has hit the 10 billion downloads mark.
The milestone, announced on Apple Inc.'s website Saturday, arrives as the company's hugely popular smart phone is likely to become even more popular with the addition next month of Verizon Wireless as a carrier.
The company has sold tens of millions of iPhones since the device launched in 2007 and continues to expand the use of apps with its iPad tablet computer. Its app store has drawn an army of software developers hoping to piggyback on the company's success. The store now boasts more than 350,000 different programs for the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
Apple said it would give the 10 billionth person to download an app a $10,000 gift card to its iTunes store, which now offers movies and TV shows along with digital music files. And the winner is Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, in the U.K. She downloaded a free game app called Paper Glider.
Story posted 2011.01.23 at 06:26 PM PST
All material © 2010 ABC Inc., KGO-TV Inc. & 2004-2010 LSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Víctor Lei
SF start-up creating touch-interactive video games
SF start-up creating touch-interactive video games
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SF start-up creating touch-interactive video games
Updated on: 2011-01-24 09:20:59
In San Francisco, all those technology start-ups south of Market are not just about social networking. You can now add one that makes a smart toy, or maybe it's not a toy, but a new kind of calculator. You can decide.
Richard Hart reports on the Drive to Discover a video game that responds to touch.
"What we are doing is taking the hands-on, tabletop style of classic games, and then infusing it with the interactivity of video games," explains David Merrill.
That's the dream of Merrill and his partner Jeevan Kalanithi. This is a new way to play games, to learn math, and to use computers: smart cubes designed to mimic the way we interact with game pieces, Monopoly, Legos, dominoes...
Merrill points out, "You reach in and push some of them around with this hand and that hand. You might throw your arm down and push them across the table. It's this very physical way of interacting with objects. And, we thought, 'Why can't our interactions with computers be more like that?' My cofounder and I both studied human/computer interaction, so we both have a background of being interested in how we can improve the experience of using technology. That's something we both care very deeply about."
It began at Stanford University as research into human/computer interaction. Then, the two moved on to the MIT's Media Lab, where the fun and games began. Jeevan and David invented Sifteo cubes, rechargeable screens that respond to touch, to each other, to the way you hold them and tilt them, like a Wii controller that went to college.
The cubes communicate with a computer through a wireless network. In a game called Chroma Shuffle, you align the edges to match colored dots. In another, you rush to create new paths for Booker the Penguin to find lost eggs and escape a monster. Learn to spell by touching the correct letter to a partial word or work math problems without a calculator.
Part of the technology behind it is the same technology that enables smart phones to know where they are and how they are being held. "That has reduced the cost of all these electronic components," Merrill says, "and boosted their quality and made them generally available."
Cubes will be sold first as a new kind of game system, but Sifteo is betting that a software development kit will enable a robust market in apps that nobody has yet envisioned. Call them cube apps. The new cubes themselves won't be in stores for few months yet.
Now, Angry Birds players will have something to throw at those pigs.
Story posted 2011.01.24 at 06:15 AM PST
All material © 2010 ABC Inc., KGO-TV Inc. & 2004-2010 LSN, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Víctor Lei
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