President Barack Obama says he’s pleased with healthier job growth, but concedes the economy isn’t producing enough jobs to accommodate people in need of work. (Nov. 5)
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Searing gas avalanched down an Indonesian volcano, torching houses and trees and incinerating villagers as they fled Mount Merapi’s worst eruption in a century. (Nov. 5)
Continue reading …Mac Pro Server quietly introduced as Xserve heads for the grave, starts at $3,000
November 5, 2010 No Comment
Sneaky Apple… real sneaky. Just as the company announced that it would be axing its rack-mountable Xserve come January 31st, in flies an all-new Mac Pro to effectively take its place. The Mac Pro Server — which is slated to ship in “two to four weeks” — has joined the fray this morning on Apple’s website, with the workstation equipped with a single 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Xeon ‘Nehalem’ processor, 8GB (4 x 2GB) of DDR3 ECC SDRAM, a pair of 1TB (7200RPM) hard drives, one 18x SuperDrive, ATI’s Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 video memory, and a fresh copy of Mac OS X Server (the unlimited-client license version, for those wondering). Curiously enough, this marks the second time Apple has thrown a “server edition” into the mix, with the Mac mini Server popping up in June. As you’d expect, the $2,999 base price can be pushed far north by slapping in a pair of 2.93GHz six-core ‘Westmere’ chips (a modest $3,475 increase), 32GB of RAM (only an extra $3,400), a Mac Pro RAID card (pocket change at $700) and a quad-channel 4Gb fibre channel PCIe card (just an extra grand). But hey, financing is available! [Thanks, Adrian] Mac Pro Server quietly introduced as Xserve heads for the grave, starts at $3,000 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …AUO showcases world’s largest Cinema Scope 3D LCD TV, among other three-dee niceties
November 5, 2010 No Comment
In case you haven’t noticed, FPD International 2010 is going on right now, and AUO is on hand with a stockpile of new kit. AUO Optronics just so happens to be a fairly substantial panel maker in the grand scheme of things, so people tend to pay attention when they roll out the planet’s largest Cinema Scope (read: 21:9 aspect ratio ) 3D LCD TV. A 71-inch version of the aforesaid device is on hand for the public to gawk at, as is a 65-inch QFHD 4K x 2K lenticular lens 3D TV. The former boasts a 240Hz double frame rate, LED scanning backlight and optimized parameters for better motion flow, and unlike most three-dee televisions these days, this one works with polarized glasses — you know, the ones that are dirt cheap, don’t require batteries and haven’t been known to give people headaches. The latter is a glasses-free solution, but unlike the company’s next generation 3D notebook panels, you’ll need to be located in one of eight viewing spots to dig the effect. In related news, AUO is also trumpeting a 4-inch 3D interactive touch panel suitable for use with smartphones, portable game consoles and tablets, but unfortunately, no release information is being doled out for any of this stuff. A heartbreaker, really. Continue reading AUO showcases world’s largest Cinema Scope 3D LCD TV, among other three-dee niceties AUO showcases world’s largest Cinema Scope 3D LCD TV, among other three-dee niceties originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Image credit: Jeff Schuler , used under Creative Commons license. A few weeks ago we caught a behind-the-scenes glimpse at an industrial composting operation . But it’s not just regular composting that’s going mainstream. Vermicomposting, or worm composting —which I tend to think of as the crunchier, DIY end of composting—is al… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Employers added 151000 jobs in October, with the education and health care sectors leading the way. But the unemployment rate, measured by a separate survey of households, remained stuck at 9.6 percent for the third straight month. (Nov. 5)
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Lil Wayne ready to celebrate after serving 8 months in jail; New Michael Jackson album due out before Christmas; Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo are engaged. (Nov. 5)
Continue reading …The Dignity and Despair of Trash Collectors in the World’s Largest Waste Land
November 5, 2010 No Comment
Artist Vik Muniz takes the photo of Tiao Santos as Marat (left) for the print entitled “Marat/Sebastio – Pictures of Garbage” (right). Photo credit: Vik Muniz Studio The moment when one thing turns into another is the most beautiful moment. A combination of sounds turns into music. And that applies to everything. —Vik Muniz Outside of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a stretch of land known as Jardim Gramacho. Here, trash from the city—more than 7,000 tons every day—is piled in high mounds. Among this vast landfill—the largest in the world—live an estimated 20,0… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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If yesterday’s preview of the GF2 wasn’t enough for you, here’s a little more eye candy to feast upon. We paired up Panasonic’s all-new Micro Four Thirds shooter with the GF1 that preceded it and collected a nice little gallery for your perusal below. The major difference between the two is in their dimensions — the GF2 feels a lot closer to your typical compact camera — though there are plenty of smaller modifications as well, such as the refashioned grip on the camera’s right side, the replacement of the jog dial up top with a stereo mic array, and the introduction of a luminous iA button for switching on the intelligent auto mode. The back of the GF2 is also quite a bit tidier, which has been achieved mostly by eliminating some buttons in favor of the touchscreen interface. Check it all out below or jump past the break for some video action. Gallery: Panasonic Lumix GF2 vs. GF1… fight! Continue reading Panasonic Lumix GF2 vs. GF1… fight! Panasonic Lumix GF2 vs. GF1… fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …BREAKING: Keith Olbermann Donated Maximum Contribution to Three Democrats
November 5, 2010 No CommentFor those smug ones on the left who constantly insist Fox News is remarkably synonymous with the Republican Party, they might want to play down the smugness. That might start with MSNBC chief Phil Griffin, who mocked Fox and insisted to the New York Times “Show me an example of us fund-raising.” Politico's Simmi Aujla reports that Keith Olbermann couldn't just put Democrats on his show, he also gave to them after they appeared: MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made campaign contributions to two Arizona members of Congress and failed Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway ahead of Tuesday’s election — a potential violation of NBC’s ethics policies. Olbermann, who acknowledged the contributions in a statement to POLITICO, made the maximum legal donations of $2,400 apiece to Conway and to Arizona Reps.
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