Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s gigabit internet service has gone live in Austin. Residents in certain parts of the city can now sign up for the Google Fiber TV and high-speed internet service. For now Google is only accepting signups from the southern and southeastern parts of Austin, with the roll out being expanded gradually to other parts of Austin in the near future.

Small businesses will be allowed to sign up for Google Fiber starting today as well. Austin joins the small list of cities in which Google is offering this service, like Kansas City and Provo.

There are three pricing options that customers can opt for. The $130 per month package provides gigabit broadband internet with Fiber TV as well as 1TB of cloud storage shared across Drive, Gmail and Google+ Photos.

Those who don’t want the TV service can opt for the internet-only plan, which for $70 per months, provides gigabit internet with 1TB of free cloud storage. For small businesses the gigabit internet costs $100 per month.

Google is also offering the basic plan which offers 5Mbps down and 1Mbps up for free provided that customers pay the $300 construction free for Fiber. No construction fee is charged with the other plans as long as customers agree to keep the service for one year.

Google Fiber Goes Live In Austin

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Forget about making cars that can run on water, how about a machine that can turn water into gasoline? That’s what a group of German chemical engineers have claimed to achieve. They have built a machine which is capable of synthesizing petroleum-based fuels from water and carbon dioxide. This machine can convert gases extracted from water into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.

Talking to RT’s Ruptly video agency, the CFO and co-founder of Sunfire GmbH, Nils Aldag, said that he would call this a “miracle” because it completely changes the way we produce fuels for cars, planes and also the chemical industry.

The machine, powered by electricity, employs a process known as Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, which was first developed by German chemists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in 1925. It can convert colorless, odorless and incombustible carbon dioxide extracted from water, and hydrogen gas taken from water vapor, into liquid based fuels like jet kerosene and diesel via electrolysis.

Aldag does point out that producing fuels from this without “will always be more expensive” than from conventional means like oil and coal. The value creation has to be where the fuel is to be used, so cutting down costs of expensive infrastructure and oil transportation will result in savings, as fuel will be produce where its actually going to be used.

The company, Sunfire, hopes to have this machine ready for commercial use by 2016.

German Machine Turns Water Into Gasoline

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

It’s that time of year where we send out a million Christmas cards to every person we’ve ever met. We have our theme picked out, and after having written dozens of heart-warming letters, it’s time to pack them up, put on a stamp and send them on their merry way. Of course, at this point your wrist is about ready to give out, and if you aren’t too good at writing in a straight line, then the people at the post office are going to have a hard time determining where your letter is supposed to go.

If you need a little help in making sure that your card states clearly and succinctly where it’s wanting to end up, the Lettermate is here to help. It works similarly to a stencil in that you are forced to stay inside the lines, but acts more as a guide. Not being able to write in a straight line is certainly nothing to be embarrassed over, but you can’t help what bugs you.

This 5×4” guide is sure to work with almost any type of envelope, and should you get ink on the plastic, it should be fairly easy to clean off. There is a ruler at the bottom, and lines to help you judge where you should start and end things. This will only cost you $14.95, which isn’t bad if this is really something you struggle with. Otherwise it’s a tad pricey to just make your writing a little bit more straight on an envelope.

Available for purchase on thelettermate, found via redferret
[ The Lettermate will help make your holiday letters more legible copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

BEIJING –- Global advocates for free markets cheer each time China opens up a new sector of its economy to competitive pricing. But recent media reports reveal that market pricing has crept into an area that even the die-hard free market fundamentalists would recoil at: appointments of government officials.

China had 7.1 million civil servants as of 2012 (compared with around 260 million migrant workers), most of whom were initially chosen through highly selective entrance exams. But over the past two years, corruption investigations have shone a light on the widespread practice of gaining official posts through buying and selling appointments or promotions. The state-run Xinhua News recently ran an article on this phenomenon, using interviews with officials to provide what was effectively a how-to guide for purchasing a little chunk of power in China.

The article was quickly taken off the Xinhua site, but lives on across the Chinese Internet. Using that story as well as a number of other media reports, we put together some pointers to guide you in your quest to become a mid-level government official in China.

Why would I buy myself a job as a Chinese government official?

For many officials, the answer is identical to Willie Sutton’s legendary reply when asked why he robbed banks: “Because that’s where the money is.” Entering government service or receiving a promotion can open the door to new opportunities for graft, making it a sound decision to pay for a new posting.

For instance, local media in the border city of Shenzhen unwound the story of one low-level customs official who forked over approximately $55,000 in U.S. dollars for a promotion, a total that he could make back in just seven to eight months by smuggling kickbacks.

So how much would I have to pay to become, say, the vice-mayor of a Chinese city?

Prices are far from standardized in bribery markets, but here are some reference points to keep in mind when budgeting:

Now-disgraced official Nie Weidong reportedly paid around $160,000 to become the vice-mayor of Yima (pop. 160,000) in Henan province. Media reports quoted Nie bragging, “I never thought a vice-mayor position would be so cheap. I’d prepared over $300,000 but only ended up spending half of it to get the job done.”

According to news reports, Nie has since “gone missing,” and authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest.

An official in the city of Maoming reportedly handed over $300,000 (with his resume and business card attached) in a bid to become the head of Maogang District (pop. ~460,000).

And The New Yorker reported in 2012 that Liu Zhijun, the former head of the Ministry of Railways, had planned to put together at least $64 million to buy a spot on the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, the group composed of the party’s top 200 national leaders. Liu was taken down in a corruption investigation and is currently serving a commuted death sentence.

How do I even get my hands on that kind of cash?

Reports in Chinese media suggest at least three different strategies:

1. Sell off some of the luxury houses you’ve accumulated (through graft).
Chinese officials are infamous for investing their piles of cash in real estate — it’s a good way to avoid the common problem of piles of money rotting in one’s home. For these house hoarders, it’s often merely a matter of reinvesting your corruption dividends (say, a dozen homes) in your company stock (aka, your career).

2. Pool “campaign donations” from businesses that you will reward in your new post.
Officials familiar with American politics in the post-Citizens United era may opt to fundraise from business interests in their bid for a higher posting, returning the favors once they obtain the position. Sure does sound familiar…

3. Take out a loan from the bank.
Those new to the game may take this more traditional route.

How and when do I hand over the cash?

The Xinhua report describes two types of payment plans:

1. Installments
For those playing a long game, all Chinese holidays, as well as weddings and birthdays, are occasions for handing over “red envelopes” –- envelopes stuffed with cash that are traditionally given to newly married couples and children during the holidays. According to media reports, these envelopes usually contain between $2,000 and $10,000, and are given out at least three times per year, often during holiday visits to an official’s home.

2. Shock and awe
In this approach, the contender will flood the decision-maker with cash at key times: during the 5-year promotion cycles, for instance, or when the decision-maker is likely in need of cash, such as when tuition is due for a child studying overseas.

Will I get caught? What happens if I do?

It’s only when officials are caught red-handed that we ever hear about the selling of posts, so it’s impossible to say what your pot odds are on getting away with it. On a recent inspection tour of 47 different bureaucracies (provincial governments, state-owned enterprises, universities, etc.), anti-corruption officials found five agencies where post-selling was rampant. If caught, the punishment can range from a slap on the wrist to lethal injection.

Detailed accounts of unsavory dealings have made the rounds in recent months, and anti-corruption officials have proclaimed that they will show no mercy in combatting the practice. For now, though, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to root out a habit that some say dates back to China’s first emperor, or whether the proclamations and follow-through will mirror the Chinese idiom: Loud thunder, small raindrops.

F
erguson protests. (Andrew Benedict, Twitter)
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 27 November 2014 – The events in Ferguson, arising from the death of the young man Michael Brown and the decision not to charge the police officer who killed him, have caused millions of people in the United States to question the situation in their country. The protests that followed the grand jury’s verdict raised new questions about the image of coexistence within the diversity that has been presented as a pillar of American identity.

The situation has renewed the alarm about the American model and sets off warnings in other countries where large sectors of the population continue to be disadvantaged, whether because of ethnicity, race, or geographic origin. This week’s images showing the overwhelming anger on the streets of Missouri speak to us of the accumulation of problems, which have found their trigger in the recent decision not to charge the police officer.

It is not only a question of Michael Brown’s death during a questionable arrest, but one of a society that has been fractured for centuries, living with racism that prolongs the distrust, stokes hatred and fuels the violence that is now breaking out into fires and vandalism. A scream, at times, sometimes silenced, that now raises its volume after the sad events of last August 9th.

Cuban society should take note of the events in Missouri. Among us racism, far from diminishing, has increased in recent decades. Motivated in part by the stubborn official policy of denying its existence and downplaying the rancor that sometimes hides under the disingenuous appearance of a joke, but whose bitter side is the high percentage of the prison population that is black, or the economic precariousness that characterizes this community.

At the last minute, and in a race to show international organizations that it is working on the problem, the Cuban government has created an agenda to fight against racism, which sadly lacks independence as well as enforceability. Lectures, conferences, statements by prominent figures in the Afro-descendant community, abound in the media. However, in reality, little has been done to give a voice to those who suffer first-hand from these prejudices.

Capitalizing on fear of greater discrimination has been, for too long, an instrument of ideological subordination on the Island. The constant allusions to a past of abuse and segregation – prior to January 1959 – have been used by official propaganda to maintain the support of the black community. As if the only choices were the current situation or returning to the slave quarters and slave drivers.

The authorities have ended up hijacking and distorting the voice of this community that should have its own presence in independent organizations and entities that allow it to denounce and make demands with regards the situation in which it exists.

Lately, the Ferguson case has also been sadly used by the official media to stoke fears of democracy. “Look at what happened in the United States,” the television commentators – obsessed with the mote in another’s eye – seem to say to black Cubans. Again, the fear of returning to the whip and the specter of police lynchings are used to call Cubans of African descent to conformity or false complacency.

However, anger is something that is incubated slowly. We are fed facts such as false quotas of power delivered to people by the color of their skin, people who have no real possibilities of decision-making.

Anger gains strength when you enter a university classroom and see hardly any colors beyond a “light mixed-race,” while in the prisons it is just the opposite.

Resentment rises when you see who lives in the illegal slums that crowd the outskirts of the capital and compare that to the racial origin of those who hold positions in foreign joint-venture companies, tourist facilities, or in the administration of economically strategic entities.

Pain increases outside the offices that receive remittances from exiles abroad and you can see for yourself that the most of the people who rely on this relief in convertible pesos are white.

Anger grows slowly and one day explodes. The detonator can be a police officer in Ferguson who kills a young black man, or a man in Havana who is handcuffed and put in a squad car for the simple act of walking through a tourist facility with that skin tone that brings so many problems in so many places.

14ymedio, Cuba’s first independent daily digital news outlet, published directly from the island, is available in Spanish here. Translations of selected articles in English are here.