Auburn has finished No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll, completing an unprecedented climb to its first national title in 53 years. Auburn won its only other title back in 1957. (Jan. 11)
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Etymotic , a company we’ve seen here at CES and in the past, has developed a pair of earplugs that protect your hearing against things like loud explosions and gunfire. The EB1 and EB15 Electronic Blast PLG Earplugs, retailing for $449 and $499, respectively, are aimed toward buyers such as hunters, musicians and soldiers — folks who are exposed to loud noises and need protection. The analog earpieces are powered by a 312 hearing-aid battery and will last three weeks. There’s no on/off switch — just a high and low gain control. High gain is used for environments that require an amplification and the opposite applies for low gain. In other words, if a soldier is out on the battlefield and needs to hear an enemy inside a house, he’d switch to high gain to generate a louder sound. The difference between the plugs is simple: the EB1 is for people who are going to be around one-off noises and the EB15 are for those who are going to be exposed to prolonged noises. We got a chance to test out the plugs on the loud show floor and we gotta say, the difference between high- and low-gain modes is easily recognizable and we feel like these earplugs will make superb head-hole protectors. Plenty of complicated graphs and numbers in the gallery below. Gallery: EB1 and EB15 earplugs hands-on Etymotic EB1 and EB15 earplugs hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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David Sirota calls this Steve Almond essay the best take he’s seen on the Giffords shooting and it’s hard to disagree. “What happens when a large and well-armed portion of our citizenry can no longer apologize?” Almond asks. “When humility becomes another form of humiliation? Their heroes exhort them: Never retreat. Reload.” We won’t ruin the essay by summarizing it. Just go read the damn thing. Steve Almond on The Rumpus: The more hysterical reactions will come from those who feel themselves implicated, who fear the great con of their professions exposed. They will react with absurd rituals of denial, as if, after all their violent agitation, they are the ones being fired upon, the victims of some vast and unending conspiracy. This operatic indignation is what I meant when I spoke, a few months ago, about the American descent into a shame culture. It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with the capacity for moral self-reflection. What happens when a large and well-armed portion of our citizenry can no longer apologize? When humility becomes another form of humiliation? Their heroes exhort them: Never retreat. Reload. Read more Related Entries January 6, 2011 Washington Loves a Paradox January 5, 2011 The House of Professors
Continue reading …Nexus S receives MeeGo and Ubuntu ports, makes our nerd senses tingle (video)
January 11, 2011 No Comment
You’ve got to hand it to the Nexus S . In spite of being a souped-up smartphone, it’s still unpretentious enough to accept power from a BlackBerry microUSB cable and easy enough to hack that it’s just received not one, but two OS ports. MeeGo, in its very raw and unfinished form, has been dropped onto the phone’s internal memory without the need for any flashing, and the method has also been successfully used to install Ubuntu on the current Google flagship. There’s very little that’s actually functional about the MeeGo install at the moment, but the ball has begun rolling and there’s a resulting question that’s occupying our minds right now — will the Nexus S have a perfectly hacked copy of MeeGo before or after Nokia releases its device for the platform? Answers on a postcard. [Thanks, Michelle and Brad] Continue reading Nexus S receives MeeGo and Ubuntu ports, makes our nerd senses tingle (video) Nexus S receives MeeGo and Ubuntu ports, makes our nerd senses tingle (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 04:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Qantas said Tuesday it will resume A380 flights from Australia to Los Angeles this weekend after a more than two-month stoppage because of engine problems. (Jan. 11)
Continue reading …NBC’s Mitchell Digs Back to 2005 to Locate Beck’s Hate Speech, But Can’t Find Any on MSNBC
January 11, 2011 No Comment
There’s no evidence political vitriol of any kind drove Jared Loughner’s murderous rampage, ABC, CBS and NBC all acknowledged, but that didn’t deter them on Monday night from taking up the left-wing line holding conservatives culpable as NBC, incredibly, managed to castigate Sarah Palin and go back more than five years to find an incendiary quote from Glenn Beck – but couldn’t find anything over the line from its own Keith Olbermann or Ed Schultz. “It was, by all accounts, a lone and very disturbed man who shot that gun on Saturday,” ABC’s Diane Sawyer noted, “but nonetheless, as we all know, a lot of people began asking questions for different reasons. Is this a moment we can talk about what is civility and respect in America?” From Tucson, on CBS Katie Couric set up a story: “We may never know for sure what drove Jared Loughner to open fire here last Saturday, but some, on both ends of the political spectrum, say the vitriolic rhetoric we hear every day was a factor.” NBC anchor Brian Williams intoned: “Has political speech in this country become too charged, too toxic, and did it play a role in this tragedy?” Reporter Andrea Mitchell contended any link to the shooting is irrelevant: “Whether or not there is any connection between Saturday's shooting and angry rhetoric, it has certainly reignited the debate over political speech between right and left.” read more
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A Haitian businessman and a US non-profit have joined hands to bring clean water to thousands of Haitians by equipping them an innovative water filtration device. John Mone has a closer look. (Jan. 11)
Continue reading …Google Docs introduces video player, yet another way to kill time in the office
January 11, 2011 No Comment
Google’s headed ever deeper into the clouds this year with a new function for Google Docs : video playback. As of this week, users can upload videos (up to 1GB) in a supported format, and make them available for viewing in Google Docs. As with the previous video sharing set up, you can still download video, including previous versions. Google engineers have warned of excessive processing time, but once videos are up, viewing is as easy as clicking play — and having a Flash player, of course. We’re not entirely sure what the advantage is over Youtube, but we’re on board for anything that lets us share our love of creepy robot workout videos with our coworkers. Google Docs introduces video player, yet another way to kill time in the office originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We don’t want to jump to conclusions, but—oh what the hell. In this clip Fox News cuts to commercial the moment Sarah Palin’s name comes up at an Arizona vigil. Related Entries December 27, 2010 The Game-Changer List December 13, 2010 Obama’s Tax-Cut Plan for Dummies
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