Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Daily Archives: February 12, 2010

What Happened to Blue Collection Mailboxes Throughout America?

Mail collection boxes on street corners, and those located in shopping and business districts throughout our country have methodically, silently, vanished over the course of the past decade. The large blue, free standing mailboxes many of us grew up using regularly to assist in the delivery of written correspondence, and of course birthday cards, are all but unknown to many. Perhaps the deluge of snow here in suburban Maryland has me waxing poetic about Americana, but there are indeed ramifications related to this occurrence. Does the disappearance of the mailboxes subtly herald the triumph of “connecting” and “networking”? The electronic “replacements”: e-cards, e-mail, e-books, and e-time, along with texting, tweeting and a variety of other mobile techie apps. Back to ground, the facts indicate 100,000 collection boxes are gone, and this database, released via FOIA request, lists those that remain – just in time for Valentine’s Day. So try and find one, and maybe mail a card – with thanks from those of us who still enjoy sending and receiving them (especially ones that are home made).

Amazon Providing Free Gov Docs for Kindle

News release: “Amazon.com today announced that the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011, and Economic Report of the President, will both be available beginning tomorrow as free wireless downloads in Amazon’s Kindle Store…”Our customers have always been heavy readers of books about current events and economic issues,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President,… Continue Reading

FCC Releases New Census Tract-Level Data on High-Speed Internet Services

News release: “The Federal Communications Commission today released the first High-Speed Services for Internet Access report Report [see also the related Maps] to be based on the new census tract-based Form 477 data collection requirements. The FCC has collected information from facilities-based broadband service providers since 2000. In 2008, the FCC released orders implementing significant… Continue Reading

FDA Unveils Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure from Medical Imaging

News release: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced an initiative to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from three types of medical imaging procedures: computed tomography (CT), nuclear medicine studies, and fluoroscopy. These procedures are the greatest contributors to total radiation exposure within the U.S. population and use much higher radiation doses than other radiographic… Continue Reading

FCC Releases Latest Telephone Subscribership Report

News release: “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its latest report on telephone subscribership levels in the United States [see also zip files]. The report presents subscribership statistics based on the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Census Bureau in November 2009. The report also shows subscribership levels by state, income level, race, age,… Continue Reading