While brands like LG , Samsung , and Kenmore all showed off their own special brand of Jetsonian appliances at CES this year, Sub-Zero was close by touting a stable of 30 automation-ready products and a partnership with Control4 that could make them a contender for home automation domination. Sub-Zero’s ZigBee-based system uses preexisting serial ports (initially installed for diagnostic purposes) to connect users to appliances via touchscreens, smart phones, and other enabled devices. The system lacks full control of potentially dangerous appliances like the oven, instead acting as an alert system when, say, your turkey is done roasting, but it does grant complete access to things like your refrigerator or freezer. Other systems might sport increased functionality, like LG’s Thinq , which allows users to set oven temperatures remotely, and Samsung’s fridge , which lets you tweet from a built-in touchscreen, but Sub-Zero is hoping a second-quarter release will put them at the head of the pack. We’ll see if a head start makes a difference in the glacial appliance market, when Samsung rolls out its smart refrigerator this May and Kenmore’s system comes to fruition in 2012. Control4, Sub-Zero get in on the home automation game originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The family of the man who spurred Tunisia’s regime change by setting himself on fire were calling for the creation of a durable democracy. They said Mohamed Bouazizi was a martyr who sparked the revolt. (21 January 2011)
Continue reading …House Republicans predicted they’d get scores of Democratic defectors in the vote to repeal health care reform, a sign of the “will of the people” to overturn the legislation, writes Eugene Robinson. Yeah, not so much: Not a single Democrat switched. “This is momentum?” Robinson asks in the Washington Post…
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Photo: Sioux City Journal Yet another one of the incidents in the much-publicized global mass animal death story — which nobody really cared about , anyways — has been stripped of its mystery. The hundreds of dead birds that were discovered in South Da… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Christiane Amanpour Spins JFK Assassination as ‘Relevant’ to ‘Political Atmosphere’ of Today
January 21, 2011 No Comment
According to ABC's Christiane Amanpour, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is “eerily relevant” to the attempted killing of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago. Talking to President Kennedy's sister on Thursday's Nightline, she wondered if the “political atmosphere” between the two acts of violence was the same. Amanpour, the host of This Week, was highlighting the 50th anniversary of JFK's inaugural address and offered the standard liberal praise for Kennedy, asserting that his “face still has a powerful grip on the American psyche.” Interviewing Jean Kennedy Smith, the journalist connected, ” It's an episode eerily relevant today in the wake of the assassination attempt against Gabrielle Giffords less than two weeks ago .” Like many other journalists, Amanpour indicated that even if gunman Jared Loughner wasn't motivated by politics, a connection could still be made: “A congresswoman was targeted. No matter what the reason, how would you describe the atmosphere, the political atmosphere today in the country?” [See video below. MP3 audio here .]
Continue reading …Osama bin Laden has released a new audiotape imploring France to withdraw its troops from Muslim lands in exchange for the release of French nationals held hostage in Niger. “President Nicolas Sarkozy’s refusal to remove his forces from Afghanistan is nothing but a green light for killing the French hostages,…
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‘Sing Your Song’ – a documentary on singer, actor and Civil Rights activist Harry Belafonte – premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, with the legendary star in attendance. (Jan. 21)
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Remember that day when Emblaze wowed the world with its First Else “death of main menu” smartphone? What a shame , eh? While it’s unlikely that said Linux handset will ever be resurrected, there’s a small chance that bits of its legacy will be passed onto other products. For instance, a recent LinkedIn newsletter led us to one Itai Vonshak who was the lead designer behind the First Else’s brilliant, mesmerizing UI. Now, according to his profile, our man has recently moved into HP / Palm’s comfy little house to do UX strategy. Whether this means webOS will get a slice of that Minority Report action, we don’t know; but it’ll be interesting to see what Vonshak will surprise us with at the HP / Palm event next month. For now, there’s a hands-on video of the First Else after the break for old time’s sake. Continue reading Emblaze First Else UX engineer embraced by HP / Palm, magic ensues Emblaze First Else UX engineer embraced by HP / Palm, magic ensues originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Closing Keynote: Vernacular Video from Vimeo Festival on Vimeo. Here’s a very stern and sardonic Bruce Sterling at the Vimeo Festival discussing “vernacular video.” Bruce notes, “This speech goes on for 56 minutes, practically forever by vernacular video standards.” Despite that, I was riveted by all 56 minutes’ worth — Bruce takes an unexpected turn through the history of the Dick Van Dyke show on… Broadcasting platform : Vimeo Source : Boing Boing Discovery Date : 21/01/2011 18:18 Number of articles : 3
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Photo credit: kevindooley / Creative Commons This guest post was written by Alexandra Giese, staff researcher at the Earth Policy Institute. Topping off the warmest decade in history , 2010 experienced a global average temperature of 14.63 degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees Fahrenheit), tying 2005 as the hottest year in 131 years of record keeping…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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