Today, it’s little bits and pieces of stuff that isn’t local, but it is of local interest.
Several friends have applied to Google for a new laptop.
It’s free.
Why is the world’s largest Internet search engine giving away free laptop computers? To “beta” test its new computer operating system. For those who don’t understand, operating systems are the heartbeat that make the hardware do what it does. Right now, there are three primary operating systems: Windows, MacOS, and Linux. When you start your computer, it’s the first screen that greets you.
Google is breaking into the operating system business with a new idea — link everything to the Internet.
If you already know what this is about, you can get an early taste of what the Google operating system will be like by downloading “Google Chrome,” off the Internet.
The laptops will provide 60,000 people with free hardware, an early indication of what the software will be like, and a free monthly subscription to Verizon’s cellular data network.
That’s a big-time investment by a big-time company to find out if it’s stuff works, or not.
The New York Giants football team has to be depressed.
Not only did the Green Bay Packers pound them into the snowy turf at Lambeau Field on Sunday, 45-17, but as of Monday, the team was still stuck in the hinterlands due to bad weather in New York.
A team spokesperson said the Giants were in stand-by mode as they waited to see when they could depart for New Jersey. The Giants began their road trip having to spend Christmas night on Saturday at their team hotel in Appleton, Wis. They were scheduled to go home after the loss to Green Bay but couldn’t get out of the state because of the storm that shut down Newark Liberty International Airport.
After the loss on Sunday, following a heart-breaking loss the previous week, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Giants considered moving to another city.
While New York digs out from two feet of the white stuff this week, we’ll be celebrating warmer weather.
Seems only fair, right?
Temperatures are expected to zoom into the upper 30s, possibly the low 40s, by the middle of the week.
That’s short-sleeves and sandal weather in Northwest Illinois.
A library in the Rockford area will be offering ebooks for checkout.
The Cherry Valley Public Library will roll out new technology next month as it introduces its patrons to electronic book readers.
The Friends of the Library donated the first two readers, a Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony eBook Reader, to the district. District cardholders in good standing will be allowed to take the electronic readers on a two-week test run starting in January.
The library’s focus with the new service will be to offer instruction on how to use the readers, so patrons can decide whether the technology is for them.
And we’ll close with the story of a cruise passenger who had just a bit too much to drink, and accidently dropped the anchor on the ship he was traveling on last month.
44-year-old Rick Ehlert of California was a passenger on Holland America’s MS Ryndam when he was arrested after admitting he entered a restricted area and released the ship’s rear anchor, an act that could have damaged or even sunk the ship, according to an FBI affidavit.
Surveillance video showed Ehlert wearing work gloves and deploying the anchor, according to the affidavit.
Ehlert is facing federal charges of attempting to damage, destroy or wreck a vessel and attempting to cause damage that could endanger the ship’s navigation.
If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge, said Special Agent Dave Couvertier of the FBI’s Tampa, Fla., office.
In his defense Ehlert told agents he was drunk at the time, and explained that the cruise ship’s anchor system was similar to the system on his own 50-foot boat.
Eric Petermann is the Managing Editor of The Journal-Standard. He can be reached at epetermann@journalstandard.com.
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