Daily Corinthian • Thursday, January 16, 2014 • 7
Video shows aftermath of California plane crash The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Video from a firefighter’s helmet camera following the crash landing of an Asiana Airlines flight in San Francisco shows rescuers were aware there was someone on the ground outside the plane, before she was fatally run over by a fire truck. CBS affiliate KPIX-TV first aired parts of the footage showing the chaotic aftermath of the July 6 crash of Asiana Airlines
Flight 214 at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday night. The station said it obtained it from a person close to the family of the girl who was killed, 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan. Fifteen minutes after the driver of a fire truck was alerted to where she was, the video shows that same truck running over her, according to the station, though footage of her being run over was not aired in KPIX-TV’s broad-
cast. The helmet camera shows another truck driving over her minutes after that, according to KPIXTV. The San Mateo County Coroner has confirmed that Yuan was killed by a fire truck. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on the video’s content. It’s still unknown how Yuan got out of the plane. Interviews for an ongoing National Traffic Safety Board investigation found Yuan was covered with
foam and struck twice. “At least five firefighters knew of her presence before she was covered in foam, nobody examined her, nobody touched her, nobody protected her, moved her or did anything to take her out of harm’s way and then they abandoned her there,� said Anthony Tarricone, an attorney for Yuan’s family. San Francisco fire spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said on Wednesday she could not com-
ment on the video because of the pending litigation, though she confirmed there were a couple of videos and a few still photographs of the scene that were taken by firefighters and turned over to the department. The videos and photographs were turned over to attorneys who have filed lawsuits representing victims of the crash, Talmadge said. In all, 304 of the 307 people aboard the plane
survived after the airliner slammed into a seawall at the end of a runway during final approach for landing. The impact ripped off the back of the plane, tossed out three flight attendants and their seats, and scattered pieces of the jet across the runway as it spun and skidded to a stop. Yuan was one of three Chinese teens who died; one died during the crash, and another died later in the hospital.
Google builds a ‘Nest’ for future of home technology BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — When our Internet-connected gadgets and home appliances all learn to talk to each other, Google wants to be at the center of the conversation. This imagined future is still a few years away, but Google is already preparing with its $3.2 billion acquisition of high-tech thermostat and smokedetector maker Nest Labs. The surprise deal announced earlier this week will provide Google Inc. with more tools to build a valuable hub for homes. It’s a world of networktethered toasters and tea kettles, or a so-called “Internet of Things,� that is destined to reshape society, experts say, in the same way that smartphones have done in the seven years since Apple Inc. unveiled the iPhone. The research firm Gartner Inc. expects more than 26 billion objects to
be connected to the Internet by 2020, a figure that doesn’t include personal computers, smartphones or tablets. That would be a nearly 30-fold increase from roughly 900 million Internet-connected things in 2009. Google established itself as an instrumental player in smartphones with the 2008 release of Android, a free operating system that runs on more mobile devices than any other piece of software. Now, the company is gearing up for the advent of the smart home with the help of Nest Labs, a 300-employee company started in Palo Alto, Calif. less than four years ago. Tony Fadell, Nest’s founder, is an Apple veteran who helped design the iPod and the iPhone. As influential as smartphones have become, their role in understanding people’s habits and preferences could be eclipsed once everything in the home has a com-
puter chip and is connected to the Internet. “Google bought Nest in order to learn about this world where even more information is going to be accessible by computers,� said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett. Nest Labs quickly won over gadget lovers with its 2011 release of an Internet-connected thermostat that learns to cool and heat homes to suit the needs of the inhabitants. Late last year, the company followed up with a smoke and carbon-monoxide detector equipped with voice technology and the ability to communicate with the company’s thermostat. Nest hasn’t said how many of its devices have been sold, though analysts believe they are in just a small fraction of homes. The products have only been available in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Google hasn’t disclosed its specific plans for Nest,
but analysts anticipate an entire line of Internetconnected home products will be coming to countries around the world. Some of those Nest devices could be melded with existing Google services in an effort to make people’s lives easier. Such a move also would provide Google with the means to gather more insight that could be used to sell the digital advertising that generates most of the company’s revenue. In a blog post about the Google acquisition, Nest Labs co-founder Matt Rogers promised that customers’ personal information will only be used for “providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously and this will not change.� But that pledge won’t preclude Google from incorporating its services with Nest’s products, said Gartner analyst Angela McIntyre. For instance,
Google already makes a digital assistant called “Google Now� that strives to learn what its users like and where they tend to go so it can provide helpful information without prompting. McIntyre believes Nest’s products will teach Google Now to become more helpful so it can increasingly take over more of the mundane tasks in people’s lives. “They need to gather as much information as they can to understand the context in how we live our lives,� McIntyre said. Google also could plug its digital mapping software into Nest products so it could learn the layout of a home, said Brian Proffitt, a technology analyst who is also a management instructor at the University of Notre Dame. That knowledge could then be deployed to delegate such household chores as vacuuming to a robot that would be able to rely on the interior maps to navigate its way
through an entire home without human help, Proffitt said. A Google division run by Android creator Andy Rubin is working on various ideas for robots, though the Mountain View, Calif., company hasn’t shared many details about its goals. Google’s expansion into robotics is also being bolstered by a spate of acquisitions that included the recent purchase of Boston Dynamics, a U.S. military contractor that has already built a variety of contraptions that can be programmed to run at rapid speeds, leap high into the air and climb rocky terrains. Even as it explores various technological frontiers, Google still makes most of its money from advertising tied to search requests. Acquiring and developing products with Internet connections and environmental sensors can only help Google get an even better grasp on people’s interests.
Major change unlikely despite federal open-Internet ruling BY ANICK JESDANUN Associated Press
NEW YORK — Don’t expect major changes to how you access your favorite websites and services despite a federal appeals court’s decision to set aside rules meant to ensure equal access to entertainment, news and other online content. Major cable providers already have pledged not to do the kinds of things the rules were designed to ban. And the rules didn’t apply fully to wireless providers anyway, even as Americans are increasingly using mobile devices to access Internet content. Under so-called net neutrality rules adopted in 2010 by the Federal Communications Commission, wired broadband providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon were barred from prioritizing some types of Internet traffic over others. That means a cable company couldn’t hinder access to Hulu and other Internet video services, even though they compete with the company’s own TV services. Under some interpretations, a broadband provider also couldn’t charge services such as YouTube and Facebook for preferential treatment, such that users could reach those services faster than those that don’t pay. The anti-discrimination and anti-blocking rules were designed to preserve an open Internet and ensure that startups and nonprofits had as much of a chance to reach an audience online as established companies such as Google. Broadband providers had flexibility to deal with congestion and unwanted traffic, such as spam, but their traffic-management policies had to be disclosed. Otherwise, providers must ensure access to all legal online content, applications and services
over their wired networks. On Tuesday, a threejudge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed that the FCC had authority to create open-access rules. But in a setback for the Obama administration’s goal of Internet openness, the court ruled that the FCC failed to establish that its 2010 regulations don’t overreach. The judges said those regulations treated all Internet service providers as common carriers — a general term for airlines, utilities and other transporters of people or goods for the general public on regular routes at set rates. But the court said the FCC itself already had classified broadband providers as exempt from treatment as common carriers, which set up a legal contradiction. The decision empowers leading Internet providers to decide which Internet services — such as Netflix movies, YouTube videos and news stories — they would allow consumers to access over their networks. In some cases, Internet providers can demand that Google, for example, pay them to ensure that YouTube videos are accessible to all their consumers, or Google could pay extra to ensure that YouTube videos are delivered faster. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the commission will now consider its options, including an appeal, to ensure that networks on which the Internet depends provide a free and open platform. The FCC also could draft new rules, or Congress could change the 1996 telecommunications law that gave the commission different authority depending on whether a company was a common carrier or not. Even if the ruling stands, the effect on wired broadband access is expected to be minimal.
Concerns about discrimination grew in 2007 after The Associated Press ran tests and reported that Comcast Corp. was interfering with attempts by some subscribers to share files online through a service called BitTorrent. Although Comcast said it did so because BitTorrent was clogging its networks, public interest groups grew worried that broadband providers were becoming gatekeepers of online content. After all, the files exchanged through BitTorrent included video, something that threatens Comcast’s cable TV business. Comcast’s actions drew rebuke from the FCC and a pledge by all of the major broadband providers including Comcast not to discriminate. The 2010
rules were meant to ensure that such open access continued. Still, critics worried that restrictions on how providers manage their networks would discourage investments. Verizon, which filed the case against the FCC, said Tuesday’s court decision “will not change consumers’ ability to access and use the Internet as they do now.� It said the decision “will allow more room for innovation, and consumers will have more choices to determine for themselves how they access and experience the Internet. Verizon has been and remains committed to the open Internet.� Wireless is where there’s less certainty. The 2010 rules barred Verizon and other wire-
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less carriers from blocking competing services, such as Internet calling applications and websites run by rivals. They also had to allow access to all legal websites though a phone’s Web browser, regardless of whether they are competitors. But carriers were allowed to block standalone apps — a common way of accessing services on mobile devices — as long as the apps didn’t directly compete with them. The rules also gave wireless carriers more leeway to manage data traffic because there’s less capacity
over the airwaves. And the rules said nothing about charging customers for access. Last week, AT&T announced a “1-800� toll-free equivalent for wireless data. Websites that pay for the service will be toll free for AT&T’s wireless customers, meaning the traffic won’t count against a surfer’s monthly allotment of data. AT&T said the practice complies with the FCC’s rules because, apart from the billing, traffic from the sponsoring sites will still be treated the same as other traffic on the network.
Look At It Through God’s Eyes By Mike Swims
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;�-Ephesians 5:25 You know, God did a lot of things in six days (Genesis 1:31). He created the heavens and the earth, the water and the land, the sun and the moon. He even created man and every creature in the water within those six days. In fact, He did so much that, on the seventh day, He simply rested (Genesis 2:3). However, before day six was even done, Adam began to notice that something in his life was ‘off’. On the same day Adam was created, he noticed that a void filled the air, and something very important was missing. Adam must’ve been perplexed. He knew what he was feeling, but there’s no way he could’ve given himself what he longed for. No, that gift could only come from God. After all, He’s the one who created the sun and the moon, and the stars. He even created a mate for every creature (Genesis 1:22). God had given Adam dominion over it all (Genesis 1:26). So what could possibly be missing? Remember that it is God who, speaking through Solomon said, “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing,�-Proverbs 18:22 God knew what needed to be done, so He went back to work (Genesis 2:22). He realized Adam was aching for a mate of his own (Genesis 2:18), and despite all He had created, only one thing could fill that void. God was not willing that Adam would suffer or be saddened any longer (Genesis 2:18), so He created woman as a “help meet� for Adam. And have you thought about the fact that He hasn’t had to create anything else since? Nothing can make the world seem right like a faithful companion. God created the Heavens and the Earth, the land, and the sea, as well as the Sun and the Stars, but none of that could take the place of one thing: Someone to share it all with. So, the next time you find yourself frustrated with your spouse, take time to step back and remember what Adam’s life was like without Eve. Then think about how your spouse completes you. You just might walk away with a newfound appreciation for them.
Danville Church of Christ Mike Swims, Minister 481 CR 409, Corinth MS • (662)212-2230-Cell