Blog

Treasure the moments…of each occasion, birthday, holiday, family time spent together. 

Memories Image: sxc.hu

Even when our lives are busy, we need to take at least a few minutes each day to realize the uniqueness of our children and grandchildren.  For that moment will never come again.

I fully realized this when our granddaughter was home from college, at our multigenerational house, for Christmas vacation.  Her parents and brother have taken her back today, a 10-hour drive.  We don’t know when the next vacation will be that she can come home.  The distance obscures the logistics, so it isn’t like being an hour away, like many of her high school classmates are.

Yes, we have phone, instant messaging and Skype or ooVoo so communication is better and more frequent than when I was in college or our daughter was.  However, that’s not the same as having her here.

We had to let our daughter go to college…to her own life.  We now have to let our granddaughter, who has lived in our multigenerational household for 14 years, go. 

As my mother-in-law said, when our daughter left for college, “Mary, it will never be the same again.  She will no longer be your little girl.  She’s away from home now and will be making her own decisions.” 

So, I treasured those moments we could share with Kara during the Christmas holidays, even though she was working parttime and off with friends and her brother at other times.  There were family good times, too.

So…what can you do?

• Take pictures
• Make videos
• Write journal entries
• Make a scrapbook
• Blog

Post from: Blisstree

Treasure the Moments

You know how you shoot 3D? You strap two standard camcorders together, film, and then utilize one of Intel’s newest chip to merge the two into something with depth. Alternatively, you can plunk down $21,000 for a pre-order on Panasonic’s newfangled 3D camcorder, which was just introduced (officially, that is) at CES this week. Our home slices over at Switched were able to get a plain, mundane 2D camera on this piece at the company’s booth, and while it doesn’t exactly look as useful as a fully loaded Ford Focus, we hear it’s great for making Avatar fanboy clips. Hit the source link and give the video a look, won’t you?

Panasonic’s $21,000 3D camcorder gets the hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Switched  | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

We hate to dampen your excitement right from the get-go, but Intel confessed that it has absolutely no plans of commercializing something like this itself — but that’s not to say someone else couldn’t grab a Core i7 and run with the idea themselves. The Infoscape was generating quite a bit of attention at the chip giant’s CES booth, boasting twin 7-foot touch panels (each with a 1,920 x 1,920 resolution). The entire installation was powered by a single Core i7-based machine with Intel’s own graphics, and it was seen rendering 576 links of live information. Users could touch any individual panel in order to dig deeper and bring up more information on each link, and it had absolutely no trouble pulling up dozens of boxes at once when legions of onlookers decided to touch boxes simultaneously. Hop on past the break to check out a video, and feel free to drop your wildest ideas of where this could be used (like, your den) in comments below.

Continue reading Intel Infoscape HD wall brings real-time web visualization (hands-on)

Intel Infoscape HD wall brings real-time web visualization (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

With home energy consumption and ways to reduce and manage it becoming an increasingly important issue, Intel has at this weeks CES shown its Intelligent Home Energy Management concept. Taking the form of a Wi-Fi enabled 11.5” touchscreen dashboard, the wall mounted system enables users to not only track their household’s monthly energy usage, but offers a host of other features like leaving video memos for other family members and a “goodbye” switch that instantly configures all appliances to their least consumptive setting – as well as reminding the user if they have left the stove on.

..

Tags: Appliances,
CES 2010,
Concept,
Electric,
Electricity,
Energy,
Home,
House,
Intel,
Monitor,
Monitoring,
Thermostat,
Touchscreen,
Wi-fi

Related Articles:

• Power Utility launches energy saving software
• The Energy Detective keeps electricity bills low
• Tendril mobile energy management system
• Going Green: Monitoring energy consumption in the home
• New tech tools can help you become your own home energy auditor
• Smart Grid City now online

Fishing should be an enjoyable and relaxing recreational activity but a fishing trip sometimes amounts to nothing more than a tale about “the one that got away”. Whilst fishing can be frustrating at times, is it fair game to utilize scientific technology to guarantee you not only attract fish to your line, you also get them to take the bait? The BioPulse lure system by Mystic Tackleworks was developed by John Caprio from Louisiana State University (LSU) and uses the fish’s biology to make sure your fishing trip is a success – good news for you, not so for the fish…

Tags: Fish,
Fisherman

Related Articles:

• Yamaha builds a giant fishtank on wheels
• The Fish-N-Flush Toilet
• Wristwatch fish finder
• Fishing for profits on world caviar market
• Like a fish out of water – Nissan unveil EPORO robot car concept
• MIT’s robo-fish swims like the real thing

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told a live audience yesterday that if he were to create Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December.

In a six-minute interview on stage with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Zuckerberg spent 60 seconds talking about Facebook’s privacy policies. His statements were of major importance for the world’s largest social network – and his arguments in favor of an about-face on privacy deserve close scrutiny.

Sponsor

Zuckerberg offered roughly 8 sentences in response to Arrington’s question about where privacy was going on Facebook and around the web. The question was referencing the changes Facebook underwent last month. Your name, profile picture, gender, current city, networks, Friends List, and all the pages you subscribe to are now publicly available information on Facebook. This means everyone on the web can see it; it is searchable. I’ll post Zuckerberg’s sentences on their own first, then follow up with the questions they raise in my mind. You can also watch the video below, the privacy part we transcribe is from 3:00 to 4:00.

Zuckerberg:

“When I got started in my dorm room at Harvard, the question a lot of people asked was ‘why would I want to put any information on the Internet at all? Why would I want to have a website?’

“And then in the last 5 or 6 years, blogging has taken off in a huge way and all these different services that have people sharing all this information. People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.

“We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.

“A lot of companies would be trapped by the conventions and their legacies of what they’ve built, doing a privacy change – doing a privacy change for 350 million users is not the kind of thing that a lot of companies would do. But we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner’s mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now and we decided that these would be the social norms now and we just went for it.”

That’s Not a Believable Explanation

This is a radical change from the way that Zuckerberg pounded on the importance of user privacy for years. That your information would only be visible to the people you accept as friends was fundamental to the DNA of the social network that hundreds of millions of people have joined over these past few years. Privacy control, he told me less than 2 years ago, is “the vector around which Facebook operates.”

I don’t buy Zuckerberg’s argument that Facebook is now only reflecting the changes that society is undergoing. I think Facebook itself is a major agent of social change and by acting otherwise Zuckerberg is being arrogant and condescending.

Perhaps the new privacy controls will prove sufficient. Perhaps Facebook’s pushing our culture away from privacy will end up being a good thing. The way the company is going about it makes me very uncomfortable, though, and some of the changes are clearly bad. It is clearly bad to no longer allow people to keep the pages they subscribe to private on Facebook.

This major reversal, backed-up by superficial explanations, makes me wonder if Facebook’s changing philosophies about privacy are just convenient stories to tell while the company shifts its strategy to exert control over the future of the web.

Facebook’s Different Stories

First the company kept user data siloed inside its site alone, saying that a high degree of user privacy would make users comfortable enough to share more information with a smaller number of trusted people.

Now that it has 350 million people signed up and connected to their friends and family in a way they never have been before – now Facebook decides that the initial, privacy-centric, contract with users is out of date. That users actually want to share openly, with the world at large, and incidentally (as Facebook’s Director of Public Policy Barry Schnitt told us in December) that it’s time for increased pageviews and advertising revenue, too.

The Flimsy Evidence

What makes Facebook think the world is becoming more public and less private? Zuckerberg cites the rise of blogging “and all these different services that have people sharing all this information.” That last part must mean Twitter, right? But blogging is tiny compared to Facebook! It’s made a big impact on the world, but only because it perhaps doubled or tripled the small percentage of people online who publish long-form text content. Not very many people write blogs, almost everyone is on Facebook.

Facebook’s Barry Schnitt told us last month that he too believes the world is becoming more open and his evidence is Twitter, MySpace, comments posted to newspaper websites and the rise of Reality TV.

But Facebook is bigger and is growing much faster than all of those other things. Do they really expect us to believe that the popularity of reality TV is evidence that users want their Facebook friends lists and fan pages made permanently public? Why cite those kinds phenomena as evidence that the red hot social network needs to change its ways?

The company’s justifications of the claim that they are reflecting broader social trends just aren’t credible. A much more believable explanation is that Facebook wants user information to be made public and so they “just went for it,” to use Zuckerberg’s words from yesterday.

(Why didn’t Arrington press Zuckerberg on stage about this? The rise of blogging is evidence that Facebook needs to change its fundamental stance on privacy?)

This is Very Important

Facebook allows everyday people to share the minutiae of their daily lives with trusted friends and family, to easily distribute photos and videos – if you use it regularly you know how it has made a very real impact on families and social groups that used to communicate very infrequently. Accessible social networking technology changes communication between people in a way similar to if not as intensely as the introduction of the telephone and the printing press. It changes the fabric of peoples’ lives together. 350 million people signed up for Facebook under the belief their information could be shared just between trusted friends. Now the company says that’s old news, that people are changing. I don’t believe it.

I think Facebook is just saying that because that’s what it wants to be true.

Whether less privacy is good or bad is another matter, the change of the contract with users based on feigned concern for users’ desires is offensive and makes any further moves by Facebook suspect.

See also: Facebook’s privacy vs. real-world privacy: two different things.

Discuss

As reported on GeekTonic before CES began, SiliconDust has their own dual-tuner CableCard in the works and it will be a networked tuner device just like their other HDHomerun tuners!  We’ve since learned several other details about this exciting device including pricing and ETA.

SiliconDust plans for the tuner to sell for $249 when first available.  They plan a public beta sometime in March 2010 with the device slated to go on sale sometime in 2010.  I know that’s pretty unspecific, but I expect the timing uncertainty has a lot to do with the CableLabs certification process and the unique nature of SiliconDust’s implementation of this CableCard product.

According to SiliconDust, the dual tuner will connect to your home network via Ethernet cable just like the companies other HDHomeRun products.  This is different than other CableCard tuners because it doesn’t take up a slot on your HTPC server.  It also means you can share a tuner with different PCs (with MediaCenter) and extenders (XBox360) in the home albeit only one tuner to one PC at a time.  The caveat to that I see is the dreaded DRM that CableCard has built in.  If the TV content is marked as “Copy Once” by the Cable Company or station, you only get to watch that content on the PC.  I trust SiliconDust will work all of this out in the long run.

I’m intrigued by the way this tuner will work as it just might open up the opportunity for 3rd party solutions.  I’m thinking programs like SageTV and possibly even other operating systems might find this implementation useful because it appears that the video comes out of the HDHomeRun CableCard across the network in the clear as long as those channels don’t have the CCI flags marked.  Many cable companies do not flag most of their channels except for the premiums so it might just open up the possibility for non Windows 7 MediaCenter users at some point without needing an add-on like is being implement for SageTV.

GreenButton has a nice interview of Jason Ludka of SiliconDust about the new HDHomeRun CableCard tuner:

‘ target=_blank>video by Pete Brown of GreenButton

More info on SiliconDust HDHomeRun CableCard tuner and a good explanation of the implementation of this tuner at Engadget

SiliconDust Press Release

The New York Times reports that British tidal power company MCT has raised a fresh round of money to develop their technology – Small British Company Bets on Tidal Power.

A British company with a device that creates energy from tidal movement announced late last month that it had received $5.6 million in financing that it hopes will help it reach larger commercial production within two years.

With this most recent injection of cash, which came from Carbon Trust Investments, Bank Invest, EDF Energy and High Tide, as well as private and government investors, Marine Current Turbines has raised roughly $48 million. The company is trying to raise further cash to help it build a five megawatt array based on its “SeaGen” prototype.

The SeaGen is akin to a submerged windmill that is driven by flowing water, and the Bristol-based company already has a small-scale operation established in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland, where it has been generating 1.2 megawatts of electricity since April 2008.

(It sells that output to ESB Independent Energy, a private utility, under a power purchase agreement.)

Considering SeaGen’s development costs, its makers reckon the device generates electricity at about $5.5 million per megawatt installed — or roughly double the cost of offshore wind energy.

They consider that a victory.

“How many millions of kilowatts of wind are installed already, and here I’ve got one machine and I’m one small firm and I’m only twice the price?” said Martin Wright, the company’s managing director. “We haven’t even started going down the cost-reduction curve yet.”

Cleantech Scotland reports that some large wind power projects have been approved – Moray Firth And Firth Of Forth Offshore Wind Schemes Approved.

We welcome the news that the Crown Estate – The owner of the UK’s coastal seabeds – has granted offshore wind rights for energy companies in the Moray Firth and the Firth of Forth. This is a major renewable energy scheme and will comprise of more than 950 offshore wind turbines, capable of powering over three million homes and generating 4.7GW of electricity.

The move comes a mere matter of days after Holyrood’s approval of the highly controversial Beauly-Denny Power Line. The new schemes are expected to create thousands of new jobs in research, engineering, manufacturing, installation and operations. The Firth of Forth will be developed by SeaGreen Wind Energy, Airtricity and Fluor. The Moray Firth will be developed by EDP Renewables and SeaEnergy.

Jim Murphy, the Scottish Secretary, said: “This is one of the strongest signals yet that Scotland is right at the heart of the UK’s commitment to a low carbon, energy secure, prosperous future. But it’s also great news for the manufacturing industry and supply chain in Scotland.”

Recharge News has a report on the transmission line mentioned above – Scottish Government approves key transmission line project.

The Scottish government has approved the highly controversial Beauly-Denny electrical transmission line, seen by many as critical to the future of Scotland’s renewables industry.

The decision comes more than four years after ScottishPower and Scottish and Southern Energy first applied to upgrade the line.

The £320m ($512.6m) line will stretch 137 miles across picturesque wilderness. It received more than 18,000 public objections during its consultation – the most in any public enquiry since Scotland devolved from Westminster.

Proponents of the line say it holds the key to linking Scotland’s wind, wave and tidal resources in the north to its population centres in the south.

UK wind industry body British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) welcomes the decision, calling it a “vitally important step forward in delivering the UK’s 2020 renewable target.”

BWEA head of grid Guy Nicholson says the decision is “the first step in building a 21st century grid system capable of connecting decentralised green energy throughout the UK”.

Interest in wind and tidal power is also high south of the border in Cumbria – the North west regional development agency reports – Cumbria’s huge renewable energy potential revealed.

The Scope for Renewable Energy in Cumbria has been written by former Government energy adviser and environmental scientist Sir Martin Holdgate on behalf of Cumbria Vision’s Renewable Energy Panel. It is believed to be the first study in Britain to identify the economic opportunities arising from renewable energy development at a county level.

It says Cumbria is poised to meet a third of its total energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, and double that by 2050. By 2050 the County could become a significant exporter of renewable energy with 5.5gigawatts** (5.5GW) of installed capacity, and meet the energy needs of over 300,000 people through a vibrant mix of wind, hydro, tidal, solar, geothermal and biomass. In turn this could create and safeguard in the region of 7,000 jobs and bring a significant boost to businesses and investors. Sir Martin stresses these impressive figures can be achieved without damaging Cumbria’s internationally-prized landscape, which is the major draw for the 16 million visitors who flock to the County each year. …

The study predicts energy outputs and economic impact of seven renewable energy sources and sets them against the timescales of 2010, 2020 and 2050. The 2050 scenario sees Cumbria generating enough wind energy to meet the needs of 300,000 people – mostly from offshore because the international importance of the Cumbrian landscape limits opportunities on land. However, this massive expansion would only support in the region of 500 jobs unless turbine manufacture can be based in the County, in turn helping to revitalise West Cumbria’s traditional manufacturing sector. Tidal power also has huge potential, with a Solway Barrage in theory producing only slightly less than the much-publicised Severn Barrage, but sharing the same massive environmental challenges. Modest tidal schemes in the Solway, Duddon Estuary and Morecambe Bay not only have potential to produce more energy than onshore wind but bring much-needed improved communications links along Cumbria’s west coast.

We shot exclusive video footage during CES 2010 of a new Sony service called Qriocity, starting in February, and it is the basically the beginning of the Sony Online Service. Sony is going to bring streaming SD and HD to the consumer, but we’re not sure on pricing and I’m starting to believe there might be a subscription model. It’s significance is so strong that it will be added as a main icon on the XMB and as a button on many 2010 Sony remote controls that belong to networked TV’s and Blu-ray players. You can see it in the picture of the BRAVIA LX900’s remote above in the middle right.

You can see the movie titles when you enter the store through a great looking interface with rich album art. At the main menu is the option to go to Media Library, Choose Account, Search, New Releases, Genre, and Most Popular. You can log in with your PSN account, and have multiple accounts for parents and children. There will be the ability for master accounts to control sub accounts so your children dont access the content you don’t want them to.

Upon debut, Qriocity will have “hundreds” of HD and SD movies initially available, with titles from 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Walt Disney Pictures, Lionsgate, Warner Brothers, Universal, MGM, and of course Sony Pictures. I was able to watch the HD version of The Taking Of Pelham 1 2 3 for an extended version of time and felt that it was similiar to 720p/1080i quality with the 6mbps connection they had, and was certainly no Blu-ray. However, I liked how the software judges your Internet connection and plays a bandwidth optimized version. With higher bandwidth connections (very easy in many markets), it could be that kind of solid 720p/1080i that leaves you satisfied, however – especially for a streaming situation. The whole scene looks so much better than the Comcast On Demand I have at home. It was better than anything I’ve seen on a computer too, including Hulu. I noticed some artifacts on certain darker shades of colors, but I think that was because of the connection. A minor detail in comparison to the overall quality, however.

I would say this is a big power play for Sony and allows them to cater an On Demand experience to nearly everyone with the latest 2010 Sony networked home entertainment devices such as the LX900, BDP-S370 and so forth.

I’m pretty sure that Qriocity will also be coming to TV’s, VAIO PC’s, and Windows users overall in 2010. No word if this is coming to the PS3.

Jack of trades, master of none: that, friends, is the Sungale Smart Info Engine. There’s very little this breadbox-sized hunk of B-grade electronics can’t do — but what it can do, it does with the elegance and ergonomic grace of a tank. In the off chance you figure out a good place to set it in your home, you’ll be able to watch YouTube, awkwardly read e-books, get driving directions (heaven forbid you put this on your car dash), connect memory cards, and even check the time — but considering that it’s too big for an alarm clock and too small for a TV, we wouldn’t blame if you if you simply opted to do none of the above.

Sungale’s Smart Info Engine is none of the above originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article