speeds

No good deed goes unpunished, as they say. A man who tried to warn others of a speed trap by flashing his vehicle's headlights at motorists was ticketed by police. But a Florida judge ruled this week that flashing headlights is free speech protected by the First Amendment, according to an article in the Orlando Sentinel.

Ryan Kintner was ticketed last year for warning motorists of a speed trap waiting for them down the road. The Lake Mary, Fla., resident was at home when he noticed a police officer with a radar gun near his house, and decided to … Read more

Coin-ops are few and rare these days, but that doesn't mean that the memories and quarters spent are gone forever...well, maybe the quarters. In either case, this week's Freeware Friday involves dodging speeding tickets, pulling off 99-hit air combos, and dancing like it's a revolution. Sorry folks; accessories/fight sticks/steering wheels/dance pads not included. … Read more

Tidy Up is tool that can help you reduce hard-drive clutter by identifying duplicate files on any mounted disk. This utility's multipane interface has a bit of a learning curve, despite its new "Basic Mode," and the app's comprehensive search criteria and system of smart and manual "baskets" may not be immediately intuitive to casual users.

Anyone who spends time getting familiar with Tidy Up and its three- step approach, however, will find that it's a powerful tool for identifying and dealing with duplicate files, whether you want to delete them, move them, … Read more

We all want faster Web connections. But those connecting to the Web in South Korea are actually getting what they want, according to the latest State of the Internet report from Akamai.

According to the network solutions provider, South Korea is putting most other countries to shame with average Web connection speeds of about 16Mbps. The U.S., by contrast, offers average connection speeds of 5.8Mbps, putting it behind a host of countries, including Japan, Romania, and Switzerland.

Akamai also found that cities in the Asia Pacific region are far more likely to have fast Web connection speeds, with … Read more

Camtasia for Mac received an update today that makes it easy to create professional screencasts (capturing all actions on screen) for demonstration videos, instructional videos, and other screen-recording projects. Some new features offered in version 2.1 of the software should make it even more useful, adding new Clip Speed and Remove a Color options to add to your screencasts.

Clip Speed lets you adjust play speed easily The new Clip Speed feature can be accessed from the Video FX tab, and lets you speed through slow processes in a demonstration or slow down a faster process you want your … Read more

Next time you're stuck in traffic on the highway, consider those lucky Italians. Some will get to ride in style next week when services on the slick Italo high-speed train kick off.

Operated by Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), the Italo debuts April 28 and will connect Milan, Rome, and Naples. It's being billed as the most advanced train in Europe.

It has a top speed of 186 mph -- not the fastest in the world but still respectable. The record for fastest commercial service depends on several factors, but Shanghai's Maglev Train can run at 268 mph. … Read more

Two technology artists who head Google's "Big Picture" visualization research group debuted a new project this week that shows a time-lapse animation of wind speeds across the U.S.

"An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us--energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future," the artists wrote in a post yesterday. "This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now."

The black map, simply named "Wind Map," displays white streaks that show varying wind speeds … Read more

We tested the cellular speed of Apple's new iPad in four different cities: San Francisco, London, Singapore, and Sydney.

The first test used the Speedtest.net app to test theoretical download speeds measured in megabits per second. The country whose iPad achieves the highest number wins the test. OK, I guess you can't really "win" a test, unless it's a con-test!! Yeah, so this wasn't just a test, but also became a friendly competition between countries.… Read more

Speed-reading programs are older than computer programs, but they're a natural when teamed up as software. Speed Reading III is a simple, free tool that tests your reading speed but not your comprehension. It's designed to help you increase your reading speed and concentration, which can boost comprehension. The basic idea isn't to try to read every word as fast as you can but to focus on a midpoint and see how well you understand the message.

Speed Reading III opens with a plain and simple interface containing a text message that describes the basics of reading … Read more