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After Monday’s iPhone 3G announcement, the blogosphere is full of opinions. Engadget has a good overview of the new iPhone here. Andrew Dobrow checked the AT&T coverage map for the New York City area and claimed that the 3G coverage was poor. It looks fine to me, as long as you don’t live in central New Jersey. Our 3G coverage on Oahu looks excellent by comparison. 

Related posts on billso.com

• iPhone
• 9 June 2008: iPhone 3G coming on July 11
• 7 June 2008: The impossible solar iPhone
• 29 April 2008: New iPhone will be subsidized, faster and thinner
• 28 April 2008: Should Apple sell hardware on two-year contracts?

As I gear up for the fall semester, this morning’s news bucket brought me two stories about databases.

Local legislator Wll Espero wants to create a registry for violent criminals. It’s similar to registries that track pedophiles and rapists. In dribs and drabs, other Hawaii lawmakers have announced their support. Norman Sakamoto made a statement yesterday, and Clayton Hee spoke up a few days ago.

Databases are not force fields!

The ACLU has pointed out that these registries cannot keep a convicted criminal out of a neighborhood. Privacy concerns take a back seat when momentum builds for “feel-good measures that do not increase public safety”, according to Hawaii ACLU legal director Lois Perrin.

Local supporters of these registries believe these databases will only help them. But what happens when a local government compiles a database that invades the privacy of “upstanding citizens”?

Every couple of months, some local group or politician suggests building toll roads in Honolulu, in place of a train. These efforts are laughable. There’s little space to put new expressways in Honolulu, unless the new lanes are stacked on top of existing highways. That’s a poor idea on a volcanic island. Tunnels won’t work well on an island, either.

New highways only add more cars to our roads

Mass transit makes much more sense. It’s difficult to get across town or find a parking space in Honolulu. Oahu’s economy already suffers from the thousands of cars that flit back and forth to work, home and school with only one or two passengers in each vehicle.

Many mainland toll roads offer electronic tags or E-ZPasses that let drivers travel through an express lane at tool booths. These systems let drivers prepay their tolls and avoid long lines that seem to stretch forever as other drivers fumble for paper money and change. Monthly and online statements let E-ZPass users review their journeys. That’s an excellent aid when filing for corporate reimbursements or income tax deductions. It’s also a great way to monitor fleet drivers.

Chris Newmarker of the Associated Press reported today on a growing trend in divorce cases – subpoena a spouse’s E-ZPass records to see where and when they were driving. When a spouse says they were in Pennsylvania on business but their E-ZPass account shows a tool transaction in New Jersey, credibility flies out the window.

Cheating spouses think no one will notice if they are somewhere else

Some states will not release E-ZPass transaction data to a civil investigation. These logs make excellent evidence in some criminal cases. Melanie McGuire was recently convicted of murdering her husband, cutting up his body, loading the pieces into three suitcases and dumping his remains in the Chesapeake Bay. Prosecutors used her E-ZPass records in court to describe her travels. She could have left her E-ZPass at home and paid cash, of course.

UPDATED 13 August 2007 11:05 HT: Dave Shapiro seems to agree with me.

This map from StrangeMaps.com and BigPicture.com relabels each of the 50 United States with countries that have similar gross domestic products (GDPs). GDP is the market value of all goods and services produced in a country within a year. Of course, we can find similar figures for each of the 50 states.

Hawaii is world famous, not a world economic power

For example, Nigeria’s GDP of US$82 billion is about the same size as the state of Hawaii, which is also 39th on a ranking of the 50 states and DC.

New Zealand’s GDP of US$99 billion is comparable to the District of Columbia. Yes, the nation’s capital city has a bigger economy than the entire state of Hawaii.

New Jersey is comparable to Russia (US$733 billion), so there’s the number five slot.

Texas is number two: it matches up to Canada, which is the #10 country at US$1.08 trillion.

In the number one slot: California, which matches up to France’s GDP of US$2.15 trillion.

As noted in the article, a map based on per capita GDP would look very different. Most of the US states have smaller populations than their GDP equivalents.

Thanks to Boing Boing for links!