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4R Communications is conducting a series of webinars to help professional communicators deliver effective and impactful messaging about renewables. “Big oil has successfully communicated their messages regardless of facts,” said Joanna Schroeder …

You can forget to clean certain areas of your home simply because you never really look at them, like ceiling fan blades. Other times, it’s the things you see each day that you forget about, like shower curtains or TVs.

1. If you use a wooden block for storing knives, when’s the last time you wiped it clean? Chances are dust is lurking between the blades and on the back of the block.
2. Framed art or anything else hanging on the wall often suffers dusting neglect.
3. Ceiling fan blades are probably more dusty than you might think. If you have vaulted ceilings, you may need a ceiling fan duster to help you reach the blades.
4. You might stare at the TV screen a lot, but when’s the last time you gave it a good cleaning with a spray designed for cleaning screens?
5. The top of the refrigerator is often overlooked, especially by shorter people! While you’re cleaning the top, roll out the refrigerator to sweep around and behind it too.
6. Porch lights attract bugs and spider webs. You may not be paying attention to the light, but people visiting you will probably notice it.
7. Medicine cabinets get used a lot, but you probably don’t take everything out and clean the shelves very often.
8. The area under the kitchen sink doesn’t usually attract much attention, but you should check for leaks and dispose of cleaning products or other stored items that you never use.
9. I’m guilty of forgetting to wash shower curtains. Most of them can be machine washed.
10. Utensil drawers in the kitchen get lots of use. Take everything out and wash or replace the liner.

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

10 Places You May Forget to Clean

Eco Factor: GPS device runs on solar energy.

fTech has launched a new solar-powered GPS receiver that comes with a rechargeable battery and features a solar panel for recharging on the move. The onboard solar panel is used to extend the operating time of the device, which according to the company can last up to 30 hours when the solar panel is activated.

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I’m afraid it’s time for me to upgrade my media center. My old Xbox just isn’t cutting it any more, between the composite input and the lack of processing power, it looks like it may be time to put the old reliable out to pasture and upgrade to something new. Is the Patriot Box Office Media Player the solution? Well HardOCP seems to think so, and I think it just might be.

The Box Office supports pretty much everything, costs $99 after rebate and works at up to 1080p. The only thing that HardOCP didn’t like about it (and the thing that I don’t care for) is the interface. I’d love to see XBMC on this thing since the screenshots of the stock interface looks pretty bland.

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Eco Factor: Solar-powered gadget charger.

We’ve seen some innovative chargers that let you recharge your electronic gear on the move using the abundant energy of the sun. However, the Keystone Eco Tag is different. The unique device features a writing area to be penciled in for use as a luggage tag.

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Erik Gates/ Mythbusters

Erik Gates, a regular on the show Mythbusters, was killed in a freak accident on December  20th after falling 30-feet to his death.

Gates was walking on the roof of a building when he accidentally fell through a skylight. He was conscious and talking just after the accident, but died later at the hospital of blunt chest injuries. Gates owned the company, Gateco Electric, and was working on-site when the accident happened. The building he was working on was owned by his brother, Dirk Gates, president and CEO of Xirrus, Inc. Erik and Dirk ran the web site, Gates Brothers Rocketry. Sadly, it seems the site has since been taken down.

Xirrus Inc,’s Chief Financial Officer, Steve DeGennaro commented on Gates’ untimely death saying, “He was a good guy. He survived cancer, he jumps with parachutes, he base jumps. He’s an active guy who was used to taking precautions. This was a freak accident that shouldn’t have happened.”

Erik Gates leaves behind a wife and three children.

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Most of us have special requests when we travel, but don’t really expect our lodging providers to be interested in these much less take them into account. Nevertheless, celebrities, heads of state and royalty can depend on their lodging providers to cater to their every whim. If Alexander Torrenegra, serial web entrepreneur and founder of new venture LetMeGo.com, has his way, you may soon get the same kind of service.

With LetMeGo.com, travelers upload their travel arrangements along with dates, places and any special requirements (see screen shot at bottom). Want chocolates in your room? Fluffy slippers? Just ask. Then all types of lodging providers (vacation homes, Bed & Breakfasts, hotels, etc.) can bid on their itinerary. Users can see the pricing and other data sent by each bidder, and every bidder can see other bids. But none of this information is made public; it’s between the user and the lodging providers.

Torrenegra (pictured) recognized there were inefficiencies in the lodging industry while working as a consultant for lodging web site Rentalo.com back in 2000. The problem he saw was that much of the digital infrastructure was riding atop early work in travel reservation systems such as Sabre. He decided to circumvent these systems and their associated fees by establishing a direct connection between travelers and all types of lodging providers (e.g., Bed & Breakfasts, hotels, vacation rentals, etc.).

After spending the last two years refining the technology that handles bids, signing up lodgings and making sure the infrastructure (e.g., customer service agents) is in place to attend to customer needs, Torrenegra’s number one focus continues to be that of creating a differentiated customer experience. If he’s able to execute on this, he’s confident that lodging establishments (especially, niche or smaller lodgings looking to differentiate themselves) will continue to bid on customer itineraries and pass along a small commission to the company.

When I was a Venture Capitalist in Latin America, I was struck by the lack of ambition of a lot of startups as well as questions about their ability to execute. With LetMeGo.com, I see a highly ambitious objective (the vacation rental market alone is estimated to be a $24B opportunity in the US) as well as a team with the chops to execute. My biggest concern for the company is that fact they may be biting off more than they can chew, but that qualm quickly goes away as I chat with Torrenegra.

Torrenegra moved to the US several years ago from Bogota, Colombia. A number of years ago, after observing how difficult it was for his wife to promote her voiceover services, he created Voice123.com and has since positioned it as the leading site for promoting voiceover talent.

He still has strong ties to Bogota, where principal development for Voice123.com took place and where LetMeGo.com was gestated during the past two years.

The LetMeGo.com team has already has a good number of hotel and lodgings signed up. In my mind, the biggest hurdle is getting enough users to actually insert their itineraries and, in general, changing customer and supplier behavior (talk about ambitious). But the young company already has an aggressive affiliate program ready to launch as well as plans to translate the site to Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin or Cantonese.

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“Government 2.0” has been a big buzzword of 2009, with thought-leaders like Tim O’Reilly and The Sunlight Foundation showing the way. It’s a movement that pushes public institutions to use technologies that have thrived in the last five years (like social networking and blogging) to foster closer relationships with citizens. This entails being more open with data and encouraging people to build apps around that data and transform it through mashups for use by others.

A few city governments have made good on their pledges to be more transparent. San Francisco unveiled DataSF, a central clearinghouse for data collected by the city, and showcases some apps here. New York City went a step further, launching a full-on apps contest through Betaworks-backed startup ChallengePost.

It’s been almost three months since the contest launched, and several interesting applications have turned up. You can check them out here. (To be clear, some of the data for these apps is collected through government institutions and some of it is bootstrapped.). But here are a few of the highlights:

Primospot: Hands down, the biggest pain of owning a car in a major metropolitan city is finding a place to park. Primospot is building a database of all parking regulations in Boston and New York, so you can figure out where you’re legally allowed to park now or in the near future. Primospot generates maps like the one above, showing what’s in the red zone and what’s not. Primospot can also send you text messages for when your parking space is about to expire, and you can search for parking that’ll be available in the near future.

And, in case you don’t think it gets any better, you can also compare parking garage prices in real-time. The company just launched an iPhone app called iPark, so you can record where you’ve parked in case you forget.

All in all, it seems like a very helpful app and one that’s sorely needed in a city like San Francisco that has poor public transportation. The user interface could be a smidgen better. I’d rather see markers showing how much of the curb is available for parking rather than noting a single point along several blocks. It’s a helpful start, though, and the team has been very aggressive in adding features every month.

Bookzee: This app helps you find available library books nearby. You can search for books either on the web site or through the iPhone app and it will show you which nearby libraries have a particular book available. Again, it’s only available in New York. San Francisco’s library system has its own online search, although it could benefit from a facelift and some mobile availability.

Taxihack: Rude taxi drivers better watch out. This app lets people leave Twitter-style mini-reviews of drivers using their medallion number. The interface is barebones for now, but it’s a big step up from the old way of reporting poor taxi drivers (call 311 and testify before the Taxi & Limousine Commission). Now if only there was a way to take photos of medallions and pull up reviews, Google Goggles-style. I guess that’s for another day …

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A plant thought to be extinct for 60 years was discovered in San Francisco’s Presidio. It’s hard to imagine that in such an urban environment, a rare native plant would be found, but the Franciscan manzanita was found by a biologist as he drove by the Presidio. SF Gate reports:

It’s like the unicorn of San Francisco,” said Daniel Gluesenkamp, who was returning home from a climate change conference in Sonoma on Oct. 16 when he spotted the plant after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge…

The ground-hugging shrub, uniquely adapted to San Francisco’s natural sand dunes, wind and fog, has not been seen growing in the wild since 1947. That’s when the last known patch was bulldozed at the old Laurel Hill Cemetery, which was paved over for homes and businesses.

Just before the bulldozers rumbled through, local botanist James Roof saved two specimens, which have been kept alive at Berkeley’s Tilden Botanical Garden.

This rare manzanita is not even protected under the Endangered Species Act because it was thought to be extinct.

Hope everyone is enjoying the last days and hours of 2009! I have to say, 2009 turned out pretty well in most regards for me.

-The year actually started with my father’s death, which sounds awfully sad and tragic and by all means is, however, he was not in my life much, so it was more of a shock than anything.
-I also was let down in January when I found out I would not be able to apply for February’s Critical care program and would have to wait another 6 months! argh.
-During January and February, I got a lot of doctor’s appointments out of the way. I hadn’t seen one in …forever… since I had no health insurance prior to my job as an RN. I love to get my teeth cleaned and have it all paid for. I totally appreciate insurance.
-And on January 20th, Obama became president, which rocked.

-I turned 24.

-I celebrated 6 years with my love, Mirza.

-I bought my first car! ok, not my first car, but my first really new(er) car all from my hard-earned money. I got a 2005 Toyota Corolla LE with only 3,500 miles. Yes, 3,500, not 35,000! so to me, that is brand new! I actually spent the 2 years prior to this driving around with no air conditioning…I live in Florida, people!!! aaaaaggh. I actually drove off the lot with my new car in March and I remember the temperature was 56 outside and I had my A.C. on full blast. I wanted to cry and I won’t say if maybe some tears were shed since a car is just a thing, but….

-Got my ACLS

-My sister ran the Boston Marathon~ ok so that isn’t my goal of accomplishment, but my sister rocks. ’nuff said.

-Celebrated Mirza’s 24th

-Had a ton of fun during the summer utilizing my apartment’s pool

-Finally got to meet my youngest nephew, Matthew, and Mirza did, too!

2009 isn’t over yet, though!
Check back in a few days for goals for 2010!!

Holiday vacation stretches ahead of you.  What plans do you have for your youngsters until they go back to school?

Image: sxc.hu

Why not visit your local library with your youngsters?  My grandchildren enjoy going there, even though they’re teenagers. Many libraries nowadays offer programs and opportunities other than the traditional reading and checking out of books.  Most of these programs are free of charge, too.

• Craft programs
• Movie afternoons and nights
• Special entertainers
• Movies to check out
• Audio books to check out
• Books to download
• Book discussion groups for youngsters and adults
• Dressing up as book characters
• Theme days and special programs
• Workshops for writing, blogging, storytelling

You’ll discover this a great congregating place for youngsters to find enjoyable pursuits there and to continue at home.  Most libraries nowadays have a web site where these opportunities are posted.  Also, you usually can subscribe to an e-mail newsletter that keeps you updated. 

What have you found at your library lately?

Post from: Blisstree

Explore Your Local Library During Vacation

Procter and Gamble Looks to Strongarm for Operator Interface Solutions

Procter and Gamble, the world’s leading maker and distributor of household consumer products and the 8th largest corporation in the world by market capitalization, has looked to Strongarm to provide solutions for the ergonomic challenges that their plant operators encounter. These include making operator stations comfortable for a variety of different users, and mounting them in various locations while maintaining user-friendliness.

To solve these challenges, Strongarm Designs has provided Procter and Gamble with the ergonomically friendly Mightymount. The fully articulating MightyMount is the first ever machine-grade display and keyboard mounting, built from sturdy cast aluminum. Vertical positioning is quick and secure with smooth, counter-balanced adjustability. The display and keyboard stay perfectly level as they travel vertically, and they can be repositioned effortlessly with one hand.

Luke Jackson, Team Leader at the P&G North Carolina Facility, says “We selected the MightyMount because of the small space it requires. We have many of these systems in place and have been very pleased with their flexibility and durability. We can mount the system and not have to make any modifications to the stands. The MightyMount gives us many positioning options to accommodate the different preferences of all the machine operators. Short or tall technicians can adjust the computer screen and keyboard to a comfortable position, and the ability to save on floor space is also a plus.”

You can see the MightyMount at Pack Expo, the Emerson Global Users Exchange, and the Worldwide Food Expo, where STRONGARM will be demonstrating the MightyMount along with other products from their line of operator interface systems

Polymer based single and system components are the focus of Jenoptik’s Optoelectronic Systems business unit. At Photonics West the business unit will present polymer optical components manufactured for the innovative Closing Velocity (CV) sensor system known as “City Safety”. In March 2008 the system had its world premiere in a European car. This laser-based optical sensor was developed to mitigate or to stop accidents at lower speed. The transmitter and receiver unit of the system calculates the distance to objects and its approach speed from signals in the range of up to 10 meters. The necessary transmitter and receiver lenses are manufactured on production lines with high quality. The technological challenges for the injection molding of these lenses lie in the tooling technology and process stability according to the required tolerances. Their complex process and production design aimed at shaping the light of the laser diode, also especially in regard to eye safety.
The tool inserts for the complex lens consist of a variety of different sized facets. These facets are tilted in two axes and integrated into the tool.
In addition, the business unit shows optoelectronic and optomechanical components and systems used in the areas of automotive & mobility, lighting & energy, health care & life science and sensors technology. For their production, the business unit provides all necessary steps of the value chain starting with optics and product design. The fabrication in various replication technologies is based on expertises in tooling, surface technology as well as assembly and packaging technologies, and system integration.

A new compact servomotor from Control Techniques has been designed to provide market-leading dynamic performance, with outstanding acceleration thanks to high torque to inertia characteristics in a remarkably compact package.

The Unimotor hd is aimed primarily at applications requiring high peak torque overload for short durations during acceleration or deceleration, but can also be used in general servo applications where the space envelope is at a premium due to its compact design. Unimotor hd has low inertia, thanks to its segmented stator (cut core), giving a highly dynamic performance. Compared with an equivalent rated distributed wound servomotor, this design is around half the length.

The Unimotor hd complements the general purpose Unimotor fm to complete the servomotor offering from Control Techniques. Initially it is launched with frame sizes 055, 067, 089 and 115, covering the range 0.85Nm to 16Nm, with larger frame sizes extending the rating to 70Nm to be available later.

“Unimotor hd has been designed to give optimum performance with our Digitax ST servo drive range,” says Product Manager, Jan Witkowski, “and meets the needs of the market in very demanding, highly dynamic, point-to-point applications requiring a high torque to inertia ratio, the new motor delivers this in abundance.”

Typically the motor will be ideal for flying shear, cut-to-length and pick and place applications, for example, in the packaging, wire bending and the food and beverage industries; any application that requires repetitive dynamic short cycle times.

Unimotor hd has been developed by a dedicated team using a design process that prioritises product innovation, performance and reliability. The process uses advanced modeling tools that allow new ideas to be rapidly evaluated, prototyped and tested. The result is an advanced design, with several patents pending, that raises the performance standard in this market.

Unimotor hd servomotors have a wide range of feedback options including incremental encoders, SinCos encoders, single and multi-turn (supporting Hiperface protocol), Absolute encoders, single and multi-turn (supporting EnDat protocol) and resolver.

With the economic EDGE technology, SIGMATEK introduces a new generation of high performance controls with low power loss to the market. The new processor technology is used in the compact controls CCP 501 and CCP 511 as well as in the ETV control panels with a TFT touch display from 5″ to 12″. In the 15″ to 19″ models, Intel Atomâ processors are used. The user is therefore provided with an integrated, scalable hardware platform that is fully compatible with the application software.

The extremely low power consumption of EDGE technology allows a compact, fanless construction of the controls. There are no components in use that are subject to mechanical wear. Because the control does not need a battery, the user acquires a truly maintenance-free machine. Naturally, the energy consumption is also reduced and the temperature problems in the control cabinet are minimized.

All machines in the new control family are equipped with a 128-MB Flash and 64-MB DDR2 RAM; the memory for residual data is 512 kB.

The control has a VARAN interface and an Ethernet interface for connection to primary control systems or the Office world respectively. In addition, USB, CAN and RS 232/485 are provided. The application software, the operating system as well as user-specific data are stored on an SD memory card.

The new generation of controls also follows the integration idea of the SIGMATEK automation system. PLC, HMI, Motion Control and Safety are unified in an integrated platform. With the all-in-one engineering tool LASAL, the automation of a machine or system can be realized efficiently.

From now on it is possible to download, free of charge, 2D and 3D data concerning the desired drive. The CAD models can be included direct in the work files because the download service is available in all standard CAD formats.

Engineers and designers can check the space needed for installing the planned motor and place the order direct in the Online-Shop. The gearmotor will be delivered within 48 hours. The drive solution is documented at the click of a button.

Just a few clicks required to achieve the purpose – the path from product idea to energy-efficient drive solution just couldn’t be more efficient, more economical and more energy saving.

In short, the improved ZEITLAUF® antriebstechnik website stands for best possible convenience and user-friendliness combined with clear, structured content. But judge for yourself! Spare a little time to check out our new internet site. We would be happy for any ideas or improvements you might suggest.

Four-digit roller counter DD51 is now being replaced with new DD51-LB fitted with a locking device. A technopolymer lever allows for spindle locking so as to avoid any accidental setting changes in case of vibrations.

All DD position indicators exhibit mounting holes bored at H7 tolerance which ensures a perfectly guided spindle movement and are available with four different counter positions, in Orange, Grey and Anthracite black finish.

All technical specifications concerning ELESA indicators, including CAD 2D and 3D drawings, are available for download on www.elesa.com

For 15 years, Netzsch Analyzing & Testing and Bruker Optics have been providing their customers an optimal combination of two analysis techniques. According to the motto „TG plus FTIR – More than just the sum of its parts!” – the coupling of thermogravimetry (TG) and Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy provides its users a significant additional benefit and a comprehensive gain in information. While thermogravimetry yields information regarding characteristics and thermal stability of materials, FT-IR spectroscopy is an established method for indentifying substances and quantifying sample components. So the combination of both techniques opens up new possibilities for analyzing macroscopic material characteristics on molecular level.

The Netzsch/Bruker-TG-FTIR-coupling has been developed by engineers of both companies. The main goal of this close cooperation has been to find an optimal combination of the two analysis systems with regard to capacity and ease-of-use of the complete system.

With the TG-FTIR coupling, both companies provide their customers a unique system for analyzing important material properties. In the field of polymer manufacturing and processing, for example, additives can be identified and even quantified. Moreover, the coupling technique gives a valuable insight into the aging and decomposition processes, even in interaction with different atmospheres. The identification and quantification of solvent residues as well as the determination of the storage stability of formulations are by now routine methods in the pharmaceutical industry, but only the TG-FTIR coupling is capable of yielding these measurement results with only one single experiment. The number of possible fields of application is immense because the combination of thermal and molecular- spectroscopic analyses is capable of revealing fundamental chemical and physical properties of a huge number of materials.

Over the years, both companies have been constantly improving this TG-FTIR coupling technique to offer the best possible solution for the individual analytical questions of their customers. Besides the optimal combination of both analysis techniques, companies also focus on a competent customer service.

For this reason, supporting customers on application matters, offering training courses and organizing information events will be an integral part of this successful cooperation also in the future.

A day before the world witnesses the beginning on the one month FIFA soccer world cup that will be  held on African soil for the first time ,a 3 hour concert  that could feature performances from Beyonce,Jay Z among other artists will be held in South Africa.

According to a recent press release,the  event will take place on June 10 2010 at the newly  rebuilt Orlando stadium and  will celebrate the  “  music, sport and visual pageantry of South Africa”.The soccer world governing body FIFA  have employed Kevin Hall,the  producer  behind the emmy winning  Live 8 concerts to stage the event which is predicted to draw in  about 5 billion viewers globally.

When asked about challenges that may be faced by staging a concert of such prestige ,Wall was quoted as saying ,

“Going into Africa during the World Cup will present a huge amount of logistics, like figuring out local transport, flights, hotels, all the stuff that a year ago people already reserved.Still, how often do you get to work on an Olympics or a World Cup?”

He further went on to say ,

“We’re really trying to highlight football and the cultures and colour and music of Africa so you will see a lot of great international artists. I think this will be one of  the greatest shows ever produced for Africa“.

Other celebrities that may headline the concert include the Black Eyed Peas ,Yolanda Soares , football legends and a host of african musicians that have yet to be named,although there is speculation that senegalese artist  Akon may make an apperance as he is performing at the opening game between South Africa and  Mexixo  .Somalian lyricist K’naan whose song “Waving Flag is the official 2010 Soccer World cup  theme song may also be in attendance.

Tickets for the concert will go on sale in January 2010 and all net proceeds will go towards the “20 Centers for 2010″ which aims to  build 20 centers around Africa that will offer basic education and healthcare services as well as provide football training for disadvantaged communities.

Remember that Need For Speed video from last month? There was a lot of consternation about whether or not it was legit, and the different App Catalog screenshots that PreCentral forum member Casperstar provided only threw fuel on the fire. It was different, from the layout to the background. But after the landing of webOS 1.3.5 we fired up the App Catalog and suddenly Casperstar was vindicated. The new App Catalog is an exact duplicate of the App Catalog that Casperstar showed us.

Combined with the base files for adding in GPU support that the WebOS Internals Twitter feed pointed us towards, we’re going to jump off the fence and say we’re almost entirely certain that the Need For Speed video is legit. So now we really want to see what Rubinstein is going to trot out on the stage at CES… 

In other words: serious OpenGL graphics, games, and apps are a real possibility. In case you missed it the first time around, the contentious video is after the break

Thanks to krische for the heads up!

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