How to Get Online Away From Home or Work

If all you want is your Twitter feed and there aren't any hotspots or mobile service where you spend time, Inmarsat's IsatPhone Pro is easily configured with free incoming tweets in an SMS text-like readout on the phone's handset. Prepay SIM cards, newly available in the U.S., start at around $90 and last two years. The phone itself costs $660 on Amazon.

Ever since the days of the fax machine and clamshell PC, I've delighted in the concept of working away from home or office.

I have fond memories of lugging those clunkers from the back of my car in and out of motel rooms through bone-chilling blizzards and driving rain -- adding to the carry-load, certainly, but bringing freedom.

With many of us now accumulating multiple connected mobile devices, including laptops, tablets, cameras and phones -- all of which can accompany us on sojourns out of the workspace and home -- one might ask: What's the most efficient and cost-effective way to keep online while away from the economical, unlimited Internet pipes available at our fixed locations?

Here's what you need to know.

Step 1: Determine how much Web browsing and email data you use in a month.

If all you have is one smartphone that you use to check email and social networks, you can survive on a domestic data add-on from your smartphone wireless carrier, which will be a good combination of always-available convenience an arguably reasonable price.

For example, one hour of navigation directions per day and 1,500 Web pages and 1,500 text-only e-mails per month will often add up to less than 1 GB, which is often an entry-level phone plan offering.

Tip: Data counter apps are available in app stores. 3G Watchdog for Android, for example, will let you calculate real-time usage.

Step 2: Determine how much video or multimedia you use.

One hour of streaming video per day can add up to 7 GB per month. This is often more than wireless carriers allow before throttling, or than they will sell you at a reasonable price.

Two hours of streamed music per day requires 4 GB of data a month; 15 minutes of video calling per day requires 1 GB of data a month.

If you don't look at video, you'd be surprised at how little data you use. However, if you do, or you want to, and want to do it without being gouged, you need to improvise a bit.

Step 3: Look for free WiFi hotspots.

Use your wireless mobile network for non-data-intensive Internet, like email and Web only, and then find free hotspots for media downloads.

Free hotspots can include hotel lobbies; bars; Starbucks; McDonald's; and your cable company -- look for the CableWiFi identifier.

Tip: Boingo is a WiFi on-the-go service that provides access to free and paid hotspots for a monthly subscription.

Step 4: Pool resources with others.

If you, your coworkers or your family use multiple smartphones, tablets, e-readers, iPods and so on, you can avoid multiple payments to wireless carriers, or hotels and the like, by creating one connection that everyone hooks up to.

Look for the term "MiFi," or Mobile Hotspot, from your wireless carrier.

Tip: Verizon will sell you a prepay Jetpack Prepaid LTE hotspot for US$99.99 and then pay-in-advance service of $90 for 10GB valid for one month.

Step 5: Tether your devices to your phone.

Mobile phone networks offer a tethering option by which you can purchase a tethering add-on that lets you connect tablets and PCs to your smartphone wirelessly. The phone acts as modem.

Tip: Sprint offers mobile hotspot add-ons that range up to 6GB of shared data for $49.95 over and above your existing plan.

Step 6: Use your laptop as connection.

I've written about this recently: Your PC connects to the hotspot and the brood connects to the PC, saving configuration time and money.

Step 7: Choose satellite services in remote areas or at sea.

If all you want is your Twitter feed and there aren't any hotspots or mobile service where you spend time, Inmarsat's IsatPhone Pro is easily configured with free incoming tweets in an SMS text-like readout on the phone's handset.

Prepay SIM cards, newly available in the U.S., start at around $90 and last two years. The phone itself costs $660 on Amazon.

More data-intensive broadband solutions are available from Inmarsat's BGAN service. If you need to ask the price on that one, you can't afford it.

Want to Ask a Tech Question?

Is there a piece of tech you'd like to know how to operate properly? Is there a gadget that's got you confounded? Please send your tech questions to me, and I'll try to answer as many as possible in this column.

And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!

---

Patrick Nelson has been a professional writer since 1992. He was editor and publisher of the music industry trade publication Producer Report and has written for a number of technology blogs. Nelson studied design at Hornsey Art School and wrote the cult-classic novel Sprawlism. His introduction to technology was as a nomadic talent scout in the eighties, where regular scrabbling around under hotel room beds was necessary to connect modems with alligator clips to hotel telephone wiring to get a fax out. He tasted down and dirty technology, and never looked back.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/79278.html
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How the iPad Air stacks up against its competitors

October 23, 2013

By Florence Ion | TechHive

It's not even Hump Day yet and already we're salivating over Apple's new arsenal of gadget releases. The iPad Air made a particularly big splash in Apple's hour-long event with the news that it features the 64-bit A7 processor and a 48 percent thinner chassis, while dropping the weight to a measly one pound.

Its body and build quality alone reinforces the fact that Apple's penchant for product design is its strongest weapon in the gadget wars, but its the specs and content offerings that will determine whether or not you shell out $499 for it come November 1. Here's a quick overview of how the iPad Air stacks up to the three latest large tablets out on the market, including Microsoft's recently launched Surface 2, Nokia's just-announced Lumia 2520, and Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, which was announced earlier this month.

[ Also on InfoWorld: The new iPads: Want thrills? Look elsewhere. | See InfoWorld's recommendations for a road warrior's must-have mobile toolkit, and discover the best productivity apps for your iPad. | Keep up on key mobile developments and insights with the Mobile Edge blog and Mobilize newsletter. ]

The latest tablet landscape and the affordable price points make choosing a device to bring home perhaps one of the hardest buying decisions. The question is no longer which tablet gives you the most bang for its buck, but which will meet your needs the best.

Thin is in
You certainly wouldn't want to lug around a bloated, too-thick tablet, would you? Apple's new iPad Air is the thinnest of the latest tablets. At 0.29 inches, its almost paper-thin chassis makes the Surface 2, Lumia 2520, and the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 look and feel like antiquated hardback books. But it's not the most compact: the HDX 8.9 is smaller and weighs less than the iPad Air, making it the most stowable device of the bunch. Of course, its screen is smaller, too.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/how-the-ipad-air-stacks-against-its-competitors-229390?source=rss_mobile_technology
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Engadget Eurocast 040 - 10.24.13

This week's Eurocast is all about the numbers. Nokia's 1520, 2520, 1320 and 1520. Phew! Our host Daniel Cooper feels they've gone in the wrong direction with all those digits, but its new pal and partner Microsoft, on the other hand, chose to keep it simple, dropping the RT and going with the ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/w59V6vlvjJ4/
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United Slapped With $1.1 Million Fine Over Tarmac Delays

A United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner at O'Hare International Airport.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

A United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner at O'Hare International Airport.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Department of Transportation has slapped United Airlines with a $1.1 million fine for lengthy tarmac delays at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in July of 2012.

In a press release, the DOT said the fine was the largest issued since it instituted a rule that penalizes U.S. carriers for holding a plane with passengers on a tarmac for more than three hours.

"It is unacceptable for passengers to be stranded in planes on the tarmac for hours on end," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. "We will continue to require airlines to adopt workable plans to protect passengers from lengthy tarmac delays and carry out these plans when necessary."

United was fined for 13 delays that happened when thunderstorms closed several ramps at O'Hare. Some flights broke the three-hour rule by as little as two minutes, others by as much as 77 minutes.

United, DOT said, will pay $475,000 to the U.S. and use the rest to cover what they paid passengers and to implement "significant corrective actions."

Back in 2011, we told you about the first fine levied against an airline for violation of the 2010 rule. The DOT fined American Eagle $900,000 for 15 planes that sat on Chicago O'Hare's tarmac for more than three hours.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/25/240816267/united-slapped-with-1-1-million-fine-over-tarmac-delays?ft=1&f=1001
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A School's iPad Initiative Brings Optimism And Skepticism

Students at Coachella Valley Unified School District use iPads during a lesson. The district's superintendent is promoting the tablet initiative as a way to individualize learning.

Coachella Valley Unified School District

Students at Coachella Valley Unified School District use iPads during a lesson. The district's superintendent is promoting the tablet initiative as a way to individualize learning.

Coachella Valley Unified School District

A growing number of school districts across America are trying to weave tablet computers, like the iPad, into the classroom fabric, especially as a tool to help implement the new Common Core state standards for math and reading.

One of California's poorest school districts, the Coachella Valley Unified southeast of Los Angeles, is currently rolling out iPads to every student, pre-kindergarten through high school. It's an ambitious effort that administrators and parents hope will transform how kids learn, boost achievement and narrow the digital divide with wealthier districts.

But, as with tablet efforts across the country, this one faces skeptics and obstacles. Some wonder if its projected benefits are being grossly oversold.

Personalizing Education

Before becoming Coachella Valley's superintendent of schools, Darryl Adams was a keyboardist and singer with the '80s pop rock band Xavion. It was a one-hit wonder, complete with '80s hairdos and a slot on a Hall & Oates tour. He says it was the first all-black rock band on MTV.

Today, Adams still has a touch of the showman as he talks about his school district's latest project.

"Everyone will have an iPad!" he says with a broad smile. "It's gonna be exciting!"

Music was Adams' passion when he was young; it was what inspired him in school. And he sees the iPad plan as central to exciting kids in school today. He argues that since the federal No Child Left Behind initiative 10-plus years ago, school districts have often failed to inspire kids. Instead, he says, they've been teaching them how to take tests.

"And that's not what education is about. So for the first time in our history as a nation, I think in the world, we're going to be able to individualize and personalize education," Adams says.

The district has leased the tablets from Apple at a cost of nearly $9 million. Voters here approved a bond issue, backed by property taxes, to pay for most of it. Funds from Title I — a federal program designed to help low-income schools — and from California's Common Core initiative are also being used for training and implementation.

Some 80 percent of kids in his district live in poverty, Adams says. He sees the tablet plan as a civil rights issue, noting that the bond measure passed with nearly 70 percent support. "Some of our families live in trailer home parks. Some are migrant farmers," he says. "But they're putting money on the line for each other, and that's a true indication the community cares about each other."

'No One Is The Expert Anymore'

The district has set up headquarters in a trailer to coordinate the massive distribution of nearly 20,000 iPads and accompanying training, security, curriculum changes, parental consent forms, and more. Inspirational quotes dot the walls — not from famous educators, but from Apple's late founder, Steve Jobs.

Matt Hamilton, the district's educational technology coordinator, says educators and students are learning from each other. "No one is the expert anymore," he says. "The whole paradigm has really shifted. Teachers are no longer the possessors of knowledge. They're more the facilitators of learning."

Students in seventh grade and up can take their tablets home on evenings, weekends and every school break except summer. Sixth grade and below will have to leave the devices in a locked classroom cart.

“ The whole paradigm has really shifted. Teachers are no longer the possessors of knowledge. They're more the facilitators of learning.

- Matt Hamilton, educational technology coordinator

The district set up a training program to highlight the best teaching practices and to brainstorm classroom curricula. Music teacher Michael Richardson, one of 120 pilot teachers, says he has involved students in figuring out the devices. One student, for example, found a promising music app and "he taught the class and taught me. It was kind of great," Richardson says.

Middle school English teacher Patricia Inghram was also in the pilot program, which tested the tablets in every grade and every subject matter throughout the district. She says she's been using them extensively and successfully in her classes for more than a year. Even though she's a longtime teacher who started out teaching on chalkboards, she says, "I feel comfortable enough to use it at this point, and I think they're fantastic tools."

High school geometry teacher Patrick Beal says the challenge is to make the tablet more than a glorified notebook. "The goal is to transform what I do in the classroom into something completely different: to take them outside of class, spark curiosity and inspire the learning process," he says.

Security Concerns

It's not clear how many schools or districts across the country are using tablets in the classroom. The U.S. Department of Education doesn't track the number, and an Apple spokesman declined to comment or provide numbers on how many schools have worked with iPad classroom initiatives.

Some districts have publicly stumbled with their initiatives. Los Angeles Unified students easily got around restrictions on their district-issued iPads last month: They simply deleted their personal profile info and then could surf the Web without restriction. LA quickly put on the brakes on its billion-dollar iPad rollout to boost security and make other changes. Several other districts across the country have also delayed their tablet plans because of security concerns.

Coachella Valley is trying to learn from LA's problems. It's working with Apple to strengthen profile security and will block harmful and inappropriate online content, as required under the rules for districts that receive federal tech dollars. For now, social media sites and YouTube will not be blocked.

Inghram says some security measures should be a classroom management issue. She has kids take a "tech oath" on digital citizenship and proper use of the iPad: no cyberbullying, harmful or inappropriate pictures or content, or social media during class time.

Some of the projects she's done in class include using the tablets to produce podcasts and link via Skype with experts at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum. Her favorite: virtually visiting the historic Globe Theatre in the U.K. during a lesson on Shakespeare.

Many of the kids never leave the area, Inghram says. "But being able to talk to someone who is sitting in the Globe Theatre and show them around the building and answer their questions about Shakespeare while you're reading his sonnets is an experience that, you know, it opens their eyes."

Lack Of Connection

But some teachers, parents and kids worry that there's a kind of iPad boosterism here that borders on naive. While school district officials are promoting the tablets as central to improving academic achievement, research on that so far is mixed at best.

At Coachella Valley High School, one of two high schools in the district, junior Cheyenne Hernandez says she's open to new media in the classroom but wonders if the iPad money might be better spent on other things. She says people will most likely steal them, break them or wear them out.

"And in a student's opinion, most of the kids are going to go on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram," she says.

“ That's where I see the difficulty. The disconnect is between giving students an iPad to use and making it relevant to the classroom.

- Rebecca Flanagan, high school librarian

And it's not clear how the district will integrate the curriculum with its ambitious tablet plan. Coachella Valley wants to make the iPads a central part of efforts to meet new Common Core state standards for math and English, and there are new Common Core apps coming out regularly.

But the head librarian of Desert Mirage High School, Rebecca Flanagan, wonders which ones the district will use, how well it will work and how it will all be integrated into a coherent plan.

"That's where I see the difficulty. The disconnect is between giving students an iPad to use and then making it relevant for the classroom," she says. "I mean, it's a toy for them."

Perhaps the biggest bug is connectivity: Large parts of the Coachella Valley are not covered by high-speed Internet. And even where it is available, many families here simply can't afford the service.

Tenth-grader Eli Servin is in a special education class at Coachella Valley High School. His teacher says he "really blossomed" using the iPad at school to help coordinate a recycling project. But at home, he has no Internet connection unless he's connecting to a hot spot on his sister's cellphone or using the Wi-Fi connection at a local McDonald's.

The district is using funding from the bond measure to boost Internet capacity and accessibility for its far-flung schools. But Adams, Coachella's superintendent, acknowledges that expanding connectivity to homes, especially in the district's many rural and impoverished pockets, will be much harder.

"I've told my staff: If we have to park a bus in the neighborhood with a Wi-Fi tower on it or whatever, we will do that to make sure that our students are connected," he says.

It's one of many issues that schools across the country will be intensely observing as the former pop rocker tries to pull off his biggest show yet.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/10/25/240731070/a-schools-ipad-initiative-brings-optimism-and-skepticism?ft=1&f=1013
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What If Husbands Had A GPS To Help Wives With Breast Cancer?

Katherine Streeter for NPR

Recalculating ...

Katherine Streeter for NPR

When I make a wrong turn, the woman's voice in my GPS says, "Route recalculation." Then she tells me how to get back on track.

How I wish this electronic tool could be adapted for men whose wives have breast cancer.

Imagine a device that would help us correct course when we try our best to support the women we love — and inevitably mess up. As a breast cancer husband who did just about everything wrong when my wife was diagnosed, I would have been very grateful for a little back-seat driving.

Let's consider some examples.

My wife, Marsha, has just had a mammogram. A radiologist rather callously informs her, "Sure looks like cancer to me." A three-day weekend looms before she can see a surgeon and get more information. My wrongheaded instinct is to cheer her up. Marsha loves books, so surely she'll be happy if I take her to a book festival. That'll get her mind off the cancer bombshell.

But as we walk around, she looks sadder than I've ever seen her. Route recalculation: "Honey, I can see this isn't what you want to do right now. Tell me what would be helpful: We can go home, we can sit and cuddle, we can watch some mindless TV, we can, gulp, talk about how you're feeling." Then, shut up and listen.

Another time, we're running from doctor to doctor, listening to treatment plans. I figure it's my job to pick the best plan — a husband is supposed to take care of his wife, right? Route recalculation: Be her sounding board, not her boss.

Your wife might ask you, "What did you think of that doctor? What do you think about that chemo regimen?" Tell her what you think. Ask her questions. But then step back and remember that it's her decision, not yours.

One surgeon says to Marsha, "I can see you'd always worry about recurrence, so I'd recommend a double mastectomy." Marsha had always thought she would say, "Off with my breasts," if it meant saving her life.

Now she is mourning this possibility. I try to make things better, saying, "Honey, I'll love you with or without your breasts."

Marsha responds: "How'd you feel if they wanted to cut off your penis?"

Me (thinking to myself): "What the ... ?"

Spousal Route Recalculation: Don't take her cutting remark personally. Admit it, you can't possibly imagine how she feels. Medical route recalculation: Marsha sees another doctor who says that lumpectomy plus radiation offers comparable survival odds for Marsha, and that's the route she chooses.

My wife tells me I don't have to come to the doctor's office with her. So I'm going to listen, right? Route recalculation: She may be trying to spare me because she feels guilty imposing on my time.

Tell her: "What the heck, I'm coming anyway. I'll remind you of the questions you want to ask. I'll write down or tape-record what the doctor says."

Detour: One breast cancer survivor told me, "My husband isn't very good with doctors, he has a demanding job as a truck driver, and I could bring my sister to the appointments." She and her husband agreed on this arrangement, and it worked out fine for them.

I'm exhausted. My job is as demanding as ever, I'm doing more household chores because my wife is dealing with cancer, and then there are all the doctors' visits. Dare I take any time to unwind? No sirree. That would be ... selfish!

Route recalculation: Caregivers need a break, too. "Honey, is it OK if I go for a bike ride, shoot some hoops, hang out with my pals?" I ask. Marsha is very understanding. For a little while, I can run away from cancer. And when I get back home, I feel a little calmer, a little more myself. And I'm a better caregiver.

I'm in the mood for love. But my wife is in the middle of cancer treatments. Do I dare come on to her? Maybe I should just hold back. Route recalculation: There's nothing wrong with propositioning your wife. Maybe she's in the mood, too. Or maybe she just wants you to hold her, massage her back, whisper "I love you" in her ear.

And if she's not in the mood, well, as my wife teases, "Too bad for you!" But at least she knows I haven't lost that loving feeling. And who knows, maybe one day soon she'll be ready for an intimacy route recalculation.

Silver is the author of Breast Cancer Husband: How to Help Your Wife (and Yourself) Through Diagnosis, Treatment and Beyond.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/25/240267676/what-if-husbands-had-a-gps-to-help-wives-with-breast-cancer?ft=1&f=1001
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Grand jury indicted JonBenet Ramsey parents

FILE - In this May 24, 2000 file photo, Patsy Ramsey and her husband, John, parents of JonBenet Ramsey, look on during a news conference in Atlanta regarding their lie-detector examinations for the murder of their daughter. A grand jury indictment issued in 1999 in the JonBenet Ramsey investigation is expected to be released Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, and should shed more light on why prosecutors decided against pursuing charges against the little girl's parents. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

FILE - In this May 24, 2000 file photo, Patsy Ramsey and her husband, John, parents of JonBenet Ramsey, look on during a news conference in Atlanta regarding their lie-detector examinations for the murder of their daughter. A grand jury indictment issued in 1999 in the JonBenet Ramsey investigation is expected to be released Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, and should shed more light on why prosecutors decided against pursuing charges against the little girl's parents. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

This Friday Oct. 25, 2013 photo shows the Ramsey home where JonBenet Ramsey was found in Boulder, Colo. on the day in which new court documents were released in the Dec. 26, 1996 death of the six year old. According to previously unreleased documents from 1999, grand jurors who reviewed evidence in the death of Ramsey indicted both of her parents for child abuse resulting in death and being an accessory to a crime, including a first-degree murder that remains unsolved. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

On a day in which new court documents were released in the Dec. 26, 1996 death of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, TV correspondents Shaul Turner, of FOX 31 and Channel 2, right, and CNN's Ana Cabrera broacdast live in front of the Boulder County Justice Center in Boulder, Colo. on Friday Oct. 25, 2013. According to the previously unreleased documents from 1999, Grand jurors who reviewed evidence in the death of Ramsey indicted both of her parents for child abuse resulting in death and being an accessory to a crime, including a first-degree murder that remains unsolved. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A grand jury found enough evidence to indict the parents of JonBenet Ramsey for child abuse and accessory to first-degree murder in the 6-year-old's death, newly unsealed documents revealed Friday, nearly a decade after DNA evidence cleared the couple.

But the 1999 documents shed no light on who was responsible for the child beauty queen's death, and 14 years later, authorities are no closer to finding her killer.

The documents confirmed reports earlier this year that grand jurors had indeed recommended an indictment in the case, contrary to the long-held perception that the secret panel ended their work without deciding to charge anyone.

At the time, then-District Attorney Alex Hunter didn't mention an indictment, saying only that there wasn't enough evidence to warrant charges against the Ramseys, who had long maintained their innocence.

The grand jury met three years after JonBenet's body was found bludgeoned and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, the day after Christmas in 1996. Lurid details of the crime and striking video footage of the child in adult makeup and suggestive pageant costumes propelled the case into one of the highest-profile mysteries in the U.S., unleashing a series of true-crime books and TV specials.

Many tabloid headlines later, tests in 2008 on newly discovered DNA left behind by someone who touched JonBenet's long underwear pointed to the involvement of an "unexplained third party" in her slaying, and not the Ramseys or their son, Burke.

The tests led Hunter's successor, Mary Lacy, to clear the Ramseys, two years after Patsy Ramsey died of cancer. In a letter to John Ramsey, she called the couple "victims of this crime."

Finding a match in the nation's growing DNA database could hold the best hope for someday solving the killing of JonBenet, who would now be 23. Her slaying is considered a cold case, open but not under active investigation.

One of John Ramsey's attorneys, L. Lin Wood, said the documents released Friday are "nonsensical" and the grand jurors didn't have the benefit of having the DNA results.

"They reveal nothing about the evidence reviewed by the grand jury and are clearly the result of a confused and compromised process," he said.

While the killer's identity is still unknown, Wood said there's no mystery about the Ramseys' role.

"The Ramsey family is innocent," he said. "That part of the case, based on the DNA evidence, is a done deal."

Boulder police, who were criticized for their handling of the investigation, issued a statement saying the documents show the grand jury agreed with investigators that probable cause existed to file charges. However, the statement acknowledged that the evidence would have to meet a higher standard than probable cause for prosecutors to take the case to trial.

The current district attorney, Stan Garnett, declined to comment but will publish an op-ed piece on Sunday, given the complexity of the case, a spokeswoman said.

David Lane, a defense attorney not involved in the case, said prosecutors may have handed it over to grand jurors because problems in the investigation could have made it difficult to prosecute. But he said that could have backfired with a "runaway grand jury" that reached its own conclusions.

He said the indictments could have been an attempt to force the parents to turn against each other, which he said was unlikely because both were protected by laws that limit testimony of one spouse against another.

"Somebody killed JonBenet Ramsey," Lane said. "It sounds like they were accused of aiding and abetting each other, with the hope someone would crack and break. That didn't happen, and prosecutors may have decided not to go forward."

Although the grand jury foreman signed the 1999 indictments, prosecutors decided not to bring charges.

Christina Habas, a retired judge who oversaw grand juries in Denver, said it's at the discretion of the district attorney whether to file charges because prosecutors have to consider whether they can convince a trial jury of someone's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The indictments might have been a compromise among jurors who were divided on what counts should be approved, said Nancy Leong, an assistant law professor at the University of Denver. The release of only four of 18 charging pages, and the numbering of the charges, suggest other possible charges were passed over. The charge of accessory to a crime might have been an attempt to "meet in the middle," Leong said.

"And that would also explain why the prosecutor didn't want to continue with the prosecution of the crime, because there might not have been enough evidence to prove the parents helped someone else cover up the crime," she said.

Whatever the motivation behind them, the documents add little or nothing to the public understanding of what happened to JonBenet, Leong said.

"We don't know much more factually, if anything, than we did in 1996," she said.

The Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder reported earlier this year that the grand jury had issued indictments, and the documents were released in response to a lawsuit filed by its reporter, Charlie Brennan, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

_____

Associated Press writers Steven K. Paulson and Dan Elliott contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-25-US-JonBenet-Lawsuit/id-47cd954476a444cf9edf8d09f637719a
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