Hitachi’s 4.5-inch IPS HD display delivers 329ppi on the cheap courtesy of amorphous silicon backplane
September 27, 2011 No Comment
It’s been awhile, but earlier this year Hitachi unveiled a beautiful new 4.5-inch IPS LCD sporting 1280 x 720 resolution, a 1,100:1 contrast ratio and a retina display -like 329ppi. Well, in the time since, Hitachi’s been hard at work on a virtually identical version of that screen that uses amorphous silicon instead of low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) as its backplane material. What’s the difference? Well, amorphous silicon’s much cheaper to produce than LTPS, and the company figured out a way to use it in its new panel with only a scant drop in performance — the new one’s got a lower 1,000:1 contrast ratio, but all the other specs are the same. So, the screen’s a comparative bargain while still providing 4.5 inches of 500-nit HD goodness. Thanks, Hitachi, we always did like eating our cake and having it too. Hitachi’s 4.5-inch IPS HD display delivers 329ppi on the cheap courtesy of amorphous silicon backplane originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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After his messy divorce from former caddie Steve Williams, Tiger Woods has a new man on the bag. Joe LaCava is a veteran caddie, who for years worked with Fred Couples, one of the most beloved players on tour. LaCava caddied for Couples during his 1992 Masters win. In June LaCava started working for Dustin
Continue reading …Briton jailed in Australia 26 years after killing and incinerating girlfriend
September 27, 2011 No Comment
Stephen Hutton, who strangled Sandra White and left body in burning caravan, gets four years but is up for parole next week A British man who strangled his girlfriend and then burned her body in a small Australian town 26 years ago has been sentenced to four years in jail. Stephen Hutton of Hampshire was extradited to Australia in 2009 to face charges in the 1985 death of Sandra White. White’s remains were found in a burned-out caravan in Yandoit, north-west of Melbourne. Officials were initially unable to determine a cause of death. Police reopened the case in 2005 and Hutton became a suspect. Hutton pleaded guilty in the supreme court of Victoria to manslaughter and was sentenced on Wednesday. He will be eligible for parole next week due to time served. Hutton and his lawyer blamed mental illness for the crime, arguing that he has schizophrenia. Australia guardian.co.uk
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**UPDATE ADDED** “Is My Son Gay?,” a new app available in the Android Market, has a rather simple premise: It claims to determine, through a series of 20 questions, whether or not the survey-taker’s offspring is, in fact, a homosexual. And yet despite this simplicity of purpose, the app is–surprise!–incredibly controversial. The Android app was made by French developers “Emmene Moi” (Eng.: “Bring Me”), whose only previous work was on “Mon Fils Est-Il Gay?” (Eng.: “Is My Son Gay?”). The English version of “Mon Fils Est-Il Gay?” looks to be a straight translation from the French, as the app’s description in the Android Market appears to have been ripped from a computerized service like Babelfish. Here is the description: You’re questioning yourself? 20 questions to know more about your son. After this test you’ll have the proven answer to a question you might have since maybe a long time. The app itself is a 20-question survey of “Yes” or “No” questions designed to identify your son’s sexual preference. Via rue89, and translated into English by resident HuffPost French speaker Alice Hines, these questions are: 1. Does he like to dress up nicely? Does he pay close attention to his outfits and brand names? 2. Does he like football? 3. Before he was born did you wish he would be a girl? 4. Has he ever gotten into or participated in a fight? 5. Does he read sports magazines? 6. Does he have a best friend 7. Does he like team sports? 8. Is he prudish/modest? 9. Does he like diva singers? 10. Does he spend a long time in the bathroom 11. Does he have a tongue, nose or ear piercing 12. Does he spend time getting ready before being seen in public? 13. Have you asked yourself questions about your son’s sexual orientation? 14. Are you divorced? 15. Does he like musical comedies? 16. Has he introduced you to a girlfriend ever? 17. Is the father (you) very strict or authoritarian with his son? 18. In your family is the father absent? 19. Was he shy as a child? 20. Is he close to his father? Reaction around the Internet has not been kind. Gay-friendly Instinct Magazine said that the app is based on the “science of tired and offensive stereotypes,” while Jezebel laments the app’s “horrible, stereotypical questions.” The app is not entirely homophobic, apparently, as Jezebel reports that, if your son is determined to not be gay, the app says “No need to look the other way! … He is gay! … ACCEPT IT! …” So, silver linings. This conclusion may also protect the app from expulsion from the Android Market, as the Developer Program Policies state that content may be removed for several reasons, most relevantly for Hate Speech: We don’t allow the promotion of hatred toward groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity. So, does this app promote hatred against a sexual orientation? Neither Google nor Emmene Moi immediately responded to request for comment, though with the amount of media attention this app has gained in America, Google should decide soon. Controversial apps seem to pop up every now and then, the most high-profile ones coming from Apple’s App Store. Earlier in September Apple pulled the (also) French-made “Jew Or Not Jew?” Jewish celebrity identifier from its store after complaints; in March, Apple yanked a “Gay Cure” app that used Biblical teachings to help homosexuals become straight. Google has had its own app controversies, too. The Android Market came under fire in March 2011 for not pulling virtual dogfighting game “Dog Wars” from its digital shelves, despite a public outcry from prominent animal rights activists. UPDATE: Developers Enneme Moi have responded to request for statement in French. This is the statement from “the person who order the development of the application to the agency,” according to the developers. “This app was conceived with a playful approach,” they wrote. “It is not based at all on scientific research… Through humor, “Is My Son Gay?” and the forthcoming novel have the sole objective of toning down/improving the situation and helping mothers to accept their sons’ homosexuality.” Do you think the “Is My Son Gay” app should be banned from the Android Market? Weigh in via our QuickPoll. Then, check out nine of the most controversial apps removed from the Apple’s App Store (below):
Continue reading …Curmudgeon wanted: Andy Rooney is calling it quits from 60 Minutes , says CBS . The 92-year-old will announce the move at the end of this Sunday’s essay, which the network notes will be No. 1,097 since 1978. Though a network fixture, Rooney has run into repeated criticism that he’s out…
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Bad Lip Reading of the Day: Bad Lip Reading somehow manages to make GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry sound halfway coherent. ( Compare with original .) [ thd .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 27/09/2011 22:53 Number of articles : 4
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Bad Lip Reading of the Day: Bad Lip Reading somehow manages to make GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry sound halfway coherent. ( Compare with original .) [ thd .] Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Daily What Discovery Date : 27/09/2011 22:53 Number of articles : 4
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Bacterium traced back to cantaloupes from Colorado farm is blamed for infections in 72 people across 18 states A listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes from Colorado has killed 13 people and infected 59 others, US health officials have said. The foodborne outbreak is the deadliest in the United States in more than a decade, exceeding the 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak from tainted peanuts that killed nine and infected more than 700 people in the United States, according to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC). So far 18 states had reported infections from one of the four strains of listeria involved, the CDC said. Of the 13 deaths, four were in New Mexico, two in Colorado, two in Texas and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The CDC said it had traced the outbreak to cantaloupes grown at Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado, after finding Listeria monocytogenes in a sample from there. The company issued a recall on 14 September of its Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes. The fruit was shipped to at least 17 states. The Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers to throw out the recalled melons. Listeria bacteria thrive in low temperatures. Outbreaks are usually associated with deli meats, unpasteurised cheeses and smoked refrigerated seafood. It is the deadliest listeria outbreak in the US since 1998 when contaminated hot dogs and deli meats killed 32 people and made 101 sick. People with weakened immune systems are most vulnerable to listeria. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than healthy adults to get listeriosis and people with Aids are nearly 300 times more likely, the CDC says on its website. United States Food safety guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bacterium traced back to cantaloupes from Colorado farm is blamed for infections in 72 people across 18 states A listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes from Colorado has killed 13 people and infected 59 others, US health officials have said. The foodborne outbreak is the deadliest in the United States in more than a decade, exceeding the 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak from tainted peanuts that killed nine and infected more than 700 people in the United States, according to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC). So far 18 states had reported infections from one of the four strains of listeria involved, the CDC said. Of the 13 deaths, four were in New Mexico, two in Colorado, two in Texas and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The CDC said it had traced the outbreak to cantaloupes grown at Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado, after finding Listeria monocytogenes in a sample from there. The company issued a recall on 14 September of its Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes. The fruit was shipped to at least 17 states. The Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers to throw out the recalled melons. Listeria bacteria thrive in low temperatures. Outbreaks are usually associated with deli meats, unpasteurised cheeses and smoked refrigerated seafood. It is the deadliest listeria outbreak in the US since 1998 when contaminated hot dogs and deli meats killed 32 people and made 101 sick. People with weakened immune systems are most vulnerable to listeria. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than healthy adults to get listeriosis and people with Aids are nearly 300 times more likely, the CDC says on its website. United States Food safety guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bacterium traced back to cantaloupes from Colorado farm is blamed for infections in 72 people across 18 states A listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupes from Colorado has killed 13 people and infected 59 others, US health officials have said. The foodborne outbreak is the deadliest in the United States in more than a decade, exceeding the 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak from tainted peanuts that killed nine and infected more than 700 people in the United States, according to the Centres for Disease Control (CDC). So far 18 states had reported infections from one of the four strains of listeria involved, the CDC said. Of the 13 deaths, four were in New Mexico, two in Colorado, two in Texas and one each in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The CDC said it had traced the outbreak to cantaloupes grown at Jensen Farms in Granada, Colorado, after finding Listeria monocytogenes in a sample from there. The company issued a recall on 14 September of its Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes. The fruit was shipped to at least 17 states. The Food and Drug Administration has advised consumers to throw out the recalled melons. Listeria bacteria thrive in low temperatures. Outbreaks are usually associated with deli meats, unpasteurised cheeses and smoked refrigerated seafood. It is the deadliest listeria outbreak in the US since 1998 when contaminated hot dogs and deli meats killed 32 people and made 101 sick. People with weakened immune systems are most vulnerable to listeria. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than healthy adults to get listeriosis and people with Aids are nearly 300 times more likely, the CDC says on its website. United States Food safety guardian.co.uk
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