High-tech gadgets help consumers moderate energy use

Is it time to upgrade your tech gadgets? It depends how much you like to save money over the long term.
Today's newest TV and computer models, indeed a vast array of high-tech electronic accessories, are more eco-friendly than ever. dell 6y270 battery
They use less energy, which means savings on your power bill. Not only do many feature smart power management features, electronic devices simply run on less power.
Take your home TV, for example. In many homes, it's on a good part of the day and remains the cheapest entertainment you can get. (dell inspiron 1525 battery)
"Watching a 90-minute movie on newer flat panel TV and a home theatre audio system could cost less than a nickel," said Barry Murray, director of marketing, AV Group, Panasonic Canada.
"Certainly, far less than the $5.99 you spent renting."
Televisions new and old consume the most energy in most entertainment systems; only high-end-audio sound systems consume more. TOSHIBA pa3399u-1bas battery
The bigger the screen, the more power a TV uses. How much it uses varies widely: a flat panel HDTV can draw from 70 watts to more than 500 watts of power.
Yet, Samsung's boast, for instance, that its TVs are becoming 40 per cent more efficient every year, is true.
LED-based LCD TVs consume the least amount of power. Typically, current under-50-inch screen models draw less than 100 watts, while plain LCD models will draw about 125 watts, all while in standard view screen mode.
Some new TV models feature unique power-saving features. (dell inspiron 1545 battery)Sony's EX700 series LED edge-lit models feature a presence sensor which first turns off the screen when it senses no body movement in the room, then later turns the sound off if no one returns to the room.
Plasma TVs, which draw more power than LCD TVs, also have become less power-hungry.
A five-year-old Panasonic 42-inch plasma averages 290 watts in standard screen mode, while today's Panasonic 50-inch VT25 draws 130 watts.
TVs in homes should be set to the "natural" screen setting, which displays them at their best and provides good power savings. (dell xps m1330 battery)The "vivid" or store mode consumes 50 per cent more energy.
"Cinema" mode can cut the energy draw in half, says Robert Gumiela of Samsung Canada, but at the cost of a less impressive image.
When shopping for a new TV, look for the highest Energy Star 5.1 rating on this year's 50-inch and under models; 55-inch and above models are top energy conservers when they carry the Energy Star 4.1 rating.
Computers can draw as much power as TVs. (dell inspiron 1545 ac adapter)Unless they are in sleep mode, drawing only several watts, they can draw more energy than a 100-watt light bulb.
This year's latest desktop and laptop computers for Windows or Mac use less power than before, thanks to new processors that consume a fraction of the energy of last years' models and run faster.
More laptops than ever come with solid state drives, which draw half the power of conventional spinning hard drives.(dell vostro 1400 battery) RAM memory in newer computers also draws less power, as do integrated graphics on processor chips.
New Apple computers, such as the recently announced PowerBook Pro, use the newest and least power-hungry components.

But Windows 7 computers vary in what components they feature depending on price; cheaper models often opt for several-years-old affordable technology. (toshiba pa3383u-1brs battery )
When shopping for a Windows 7 computer, look for the Second Generation Intel Core Processor logo.
If shopping for AMD-run computers look for the newer "Vision" chips with "Fusion" technology, which greatly improve laptop battery time.
Also look for DDR2 RAM (versus DDR) and solid state drives.
Intel's newest speedy SATA 6 510 solid state drives run on one-quarter the power of competitors.
Chargers for cellphones, smart-phones, MP3 players, even shavers are getting better. acer aspire one d250-1924 battery BlackBerry chargers, for example, can be left in the outlet with the device disconnected and draw no power.
Older men's shavers draw eight watts while charging, compared to today's Panasonic models that consume less than three watts.
It's best to simply pull the plug on electronics you don't use. (hp pavilion dv5-1015nr battery)
They will cost less to run and last longer, as heat is a gizmo's worst enemy. One cool eco-friendly accessory is the Belkin Conserve Socket ($14.99), with three selectable "on" times of 30 minutes, three and six hours.
Belkin's Conserve Switch AV ($60), has a wireless remote control for turning off six of its eight outlets and now includes coaxial cable protection.(dell studio 1735 battery) For example, you can keep your PC sleeping while your router, speakers and printer can be turned off remotely.
The new Belkin Conserve Insight ($39), measures power consumption, electrical cost and carbon footprint on any devices plugged into it.(dell inspiron 1521 battery)
next blog: High-tech gadgets help consumers moderate energy use

Ricoh firmware update for GXR and GR Digital II

Ricoh is set to enable its GXR and GR Digital II cameras with new AF and AE tracking systems, along with new scene modes, in a firmware update due to go live on 28th March Ricoh Japan has told AP. (SONY NP-FM50 Battery )Called 'Target Follow Function' the new mode ensures that subjects tracked by the camera as they move across the frame remain in focus and properly exposed so there is no delay at the moment of shooting. This feature will be added to both GXR and the GR Digital camera(Digital camera battery) bodies. In the GXR the tracked area will be remembered when the image is played back on the LCD screen and when the user chooses to magnify the image it will that area that the camera will enlarge.

The GXR will also get a series of 5 new scene modes, that will include 'soft focus', 'cross process', 'toy camera', miniaturize' and 'high contrast monochrome'. (NIKON EN-EL15 battery)
When photographing with the fixed focal length A12 28mm and 50mm lenses GXR users will be able to adjust exposure compensation or white balance using the zoom rocker switch. The choice of which function will be active will be made via the custom settings menu. (KODAK KLIC-7001 battery)

Further changes to the GR Digital include the assignment of the 'Adj' lever to access menu functions when a scene mode is selected, and options for custom white balance that will read from the whole scene or from a selected spot area. (SONY NP-FR1 battery)The electric level displayed in the viewfinder will now also remain active during a self-timer countdown.

The new firmware for both models will be available to download from 28th March on Ricoh's download site
next blog: Nikon Coolpix L120

 

Nikon Coolpix L120

Nikon's Coolpix cameras are split into three categories: P for Performance, S for Style and L for Life. Past experience has taught us that Life is a euphemism for "cheap", but in the case of the L120 it's less clear cut.(Canon powershot sd1000 battery) The budget approach is demonstrated by the use of AA batteries, which are bulkier and more cumbersome than a Li-ion battery and carry a hidden cost because rechargeable batteries aren't supplied. The lack of an electronic viewfinder or manual exposure and focus controls also point towards this being a budget camera. (CANON Digital IXUS 65 battery )The 3in, 921,000-pixel screen, HDMI output and 720p AVC video mode with stereo sound suggest otherwise, though. Ultra-zoom cameras are available for as little as £130 but the ones with these features tend to cost at least £250.(Canon DIGITAL IXUS 50 Battery)

Photographic control certainly is basic. The lack of manual focus is forgivable but there isn't even any way to adjust the autofocus point. An icon in the centre of the screen suggests there's a single, centre AF point, but in use it seemed happy to focus anywhere in the frame.(Canon DIGITAL IXUS 70 Battery) There's no option to use face detection in Auto mode, either. Instead, the Portrait scene preset must be selected, which prohibits all other menus options. A Smart Portrait mode includes face detection too, but its efforts to capture a shot automatically when it detects a smiling face are little more than a gimmick. There's no orientation sensor, so portrait-shaped photos must be rotated manually on the PC. (CANON DIGITAL IXUS 80 IS Battery)At least white balance, ISO speed and exposure compensations are available, with a manual white balance option for calibrating the camera's colours by pointing it at a white or grey object. The same, slightly clumsy menu system we saw on the disastrous Nikon S3100 is used here, but it's much more responsive in this instance.

The L120 was quick to switch on, taking just 1.7 seconds between pressing the power button and capturing a shot. (Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS Battery)Shot-to-shot times were reasonable at 2.2 seconds on average, but using the flash slowed it to up to 10 seconds – a common complaint for AA battery-powered cameras. Autofocus times were quick at wide-angle settings and reasonable for telephoto shooting, ( Nikon en-el15 Battery)but the lack of an adjustable autofocus point sometimes lead to focus errors, which were exaggerated at telephoto focal lengths. Capturing a handful of shots improved the chances of success, although the continuous mode didn't help here with its slow 0.7fps performance and fixed focus for the duration of the burst. (KODAK EasyShare Z760 battery)Ultimately, though, our attempts to capture wildlife at the full 21x zoom extension were generally successful (see below), with the camera's automatic settings sensibly raising the ISO speed when necessary to avoid blur due to camera shake.

The L120's video mode is one of the better examples we've seen from an ultra-zoom camera. Autofocus was initially fixed for the duration of clips, but enabling full-time autofocus in the menu had no negative impact; neither the focus nor the zoom motor spoiled the high-quality stereo soundtrack. Videos used electronic stabilisation to reduce camera shake rather than the sensor-based optical stabilisation that's used for photo capture. (KODAK EASYSHARE DX7440 battery)This wasn't terribly successful at telephoto settings, replacing constant shakes with occasional violent jerks. Otherwise, though, picture quality was excellent, with lively colours, reasonably sharp details and restrained noise levels. (KODAK EASYSHARE DX7590 battery)The 29-minute maximum clip length and efficient AVC compression mean many people will be happy to use this instead of a dedicated video camera.

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next blog: Japan nuclear crisis: fears over food contamination

Japan nuclear crisis: fears over food contamination

Fears that radioactive particles could have contaminated food and milk supplies have eclipsed progress made towards averting a potentially-catastrophic nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors.(ibm thinkpad t40 battery)

Engineers have managed to rig power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, and restarted a water pump that will help reverse the overheating that triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.(Acer aspire 3000 battery ) A spokesman for Tepco, the plant operator, said workers had to be briefly evacuated after light grey plume of smoke was spotted emanating from reactor three but added radiation levels had remained stable.

He said: "We are checking the cause of the smoke." ( dell vostro 1400 battery )A small quantity of smoke was still coming out nearly two hours later, but engineers were reported to have resumed work

Engineers at the Fukushima Daiichi facility, 155 miles northeast of Tokyo, had been racing to restore power to cooling systems at its six reactors to reverse the overheating that triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. (sony vgp-bps3 battery)

In the meantime, fire trucks are spraying water to help cool reactor fuel rod pools.
Asked if the worst of the nuclear crisis was over, Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, said: "we believe so, but I don't want to make a blanket statement." (hp pavilion dv8000 battery)
Gregory Jaczko, the US nuclear regulatory commission chairman, added that radiation levels at the site appeared to be falling.
But mounting concerns that radioactive particles already released into the atmosphere could have contaminated food and water supplies eclipsed the progress made in the battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in the reactors. (dell inspiron 1545 ac adapter )
Concern about radiation has spread to food and Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, ordered a halt to all shipments of spinach from the four provinces surrounding the plant. Milk shipments from the province of Fukushima were also banned.(ibm thinkpad x40 battery)
The contamination also spread to other vegetables – canola and chrysanthemum greens. Tokyo's tap water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has caesium as well. Rain and dust are also tainted.
In the province of Ibaraki, a centre of vegetable production, tests found radioactive iodine levels in spinach that were 27 times the accepted limit. (dell inspiron 1525 battery)
Milk in Fukushima was found to be contaminated with radiation 17 times that limit.
The Japanese government said the levels were still far below anything that would cause harm to human health. (dell inspiron 1545 ac adapter )
Mr Edano said: "Even if you eat and drink them several times it will not be a health hazard. So I would like you to act calmly without reacting."
But a World Health Organisation official said the situation was "more serious" than originally thought.
Peter Cordingley, the Manila-based spokesman for the WHO's regional office for the Western Pacific, said: "Quite clearly, it is not what we thought in the early stages. It is more serious. (hp pavilion dv2000 battery)
"We have seen Japanese people in grocery stores paying close attention to where their produce is coming from, and we think this is a wise practice." (hp pavilion zv5000 battery)
Meanwhile, the World Bank said rebuilding may cost £145 billion following the earthquake and tsunami which is thought to have killed more than 20,000 people.
next blog: wide swath of companies, from Glencore to Lagardère

wide swath of companies, from Glencore to Lagardère

A wide swath of companies, from Glencore to Lagardère, are postponing long-awaited initial public offerings as the markets roil from developments in Japan and the Middle East.( NIKON EN-4 battery)

But one company appears willing to take the plunge and reassert that it will still seek to become a public company: FriendFinder Networks, whose holdings include Penthouse magazine and a variety of online properties both pornographic and not.( NIKON EN-EL1 battery)

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FriendFinder said Thursday that it was refiling the paperwork necessary to take itself public.( NIKON EN-EL2 battery) The media company had withdrawn its offering last year citing, of all things, market conditions.

So far, the company has not indicated how much money it is seeking to raise or how many of its more than 6.5 million shares will be sold.

Proceeds from the offering are meant to pay down the company’s $510 million debt load.( NIKON EN-EL3 battery)

FriendFinder’s business has been improving, as its revenue rose three years in a row to about $346 million in 2010. It reported a $43.2 million loss last year on a generally accepted accounting principles basis, a nearly 5 percent increase over 2009, although its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came to $74 million.( NIKON EN-EL5 battery)

Using what the company called adjusted earnings, which account for a litany of what FriendFinder said were nonrecurring charges and gains, it reported about $105.4 million. (NIKON EN-EL4 battery)

FriendFinder said it had 196 million worldwide unique users in December, according to the filing. The company added that it had averaged about one million subscribers every month for 2010.( NIKON EN-EL7 battery)

FriendFinder’s offering is being managed by Imperial Capital and Ladenburg Thalmann, switching over from Renaissance Securities (Cyprus) and Ledgemont Capital Markets.( NIKON EN-EL8 battery)

next blog: UN Security Council authorizes military strikes on Libya

UN Security Council authorizes military strikes on Libya

Resolution authorizes UN members to take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians and civilian centers; Gaddafi tells rebels that armed forces plan on taking over Benghazi; regime vows retaliation for intervention.
 Breaking News   IDF arrests 3 wanted Palestinians in West Bank
    UN Security Council authorizes military strikes on Libya
By JORDANA HORN,  JPOST CORRESPONDENT 
03/18/2011 02:26

Resolution authorizes UN members to take "all necessary measures" to protect civilians and civilian centers; Gaddafi tells rebels that armed forces plan on taking over Benghazi; regime vows retaliation for intervention.
Talkbacks (3)
 
 
NEW YORK – The United Nations Security Council voted Thursday to authorize military force against Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s forces.
“Today the Security Council has responded to the Libyan people's cry for help,” US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said. “This Council's purpose is clear: to protect innocent civilians.”
RELATED:
Libya: At least 30 dead as rebels try to halt Benghazi push
US: UN should consider more than Libya no-fly zone
The resolution demands the "immediate establishment of a cease-fire and a complete end to violence and all attacks, and abuses, of civilians." The resolution stipulates that member states, upon notification to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, can “take all necessary measures...to protect civilians and civilian populated areas, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory."

 
The Security Council’s authorization of the use of force also includes the enforcement of a no-fly zone to protect civilians, as well as an enforcement of the arms embargo, banning all international flights by Libyan owned or operated aircraft. The resolution also freezes the assets of certain individuals and five entities including critical state-owned Libyan companies. A newly established Libyan Sanctions Committee is empowered by the resolution to impose
sanctions on those who violate the arms embargo, including by providing Gadhafi with mercenaries. 
“The future of Libya should be decided by the people of Libya,” Rice said in her remarks to the Security Council. “The United States stands with the Libyan people in support of their universal rights.”
The resolution was backed strongly by France, the United Kingdom and Lebanon. Ten countries voted in favor of the resolution. Russia, China, Germany, India and Brazil abstained. 
"Our resolution is aimed to protect Libyan civilians," Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN Nawaf Salam said. "It will not result in the occupation of even an inch of Libyan territory."
The BBC has reported that raids conducted by unmanned drones could take place as early as Friday.

United Kingdom Ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall told the Security Council that the situation in Libya, as Gadhafi pushes toward the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, is now clear, and that “a violent, discredited regime which has lost all legitimacy is using weapons of war against civilians.”
“The international community has come together in deploring the actions of the Gadhafi regime and demanding that the regime end this violence against the Libyan people,” Lyall told the body. “The Libyan population want the same rights and freedoms that people across the Middle East and North Africa are demanding, and that are enshrined in the values of the United Nations Charter. Today’s resolution puts the weight of the Security Council squarely behind the Libyan people in defense of those values."
Gaddafi says will show 'no mercy, no pity' in Benghazi
The UN resolution came hours after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi threatened to storm the rebel bastion of Benghazi overnight, showing "no mercy, no pity".
Al Jazeera television showed thousands of Benghazi residents in a central square celebrating the UN vote, waving anti-Gaddafi tricolor flags and chanting defiance of the man who has ruled for four decades. Fireworks burst over the city.
Gaddafi had warned that only those who lay down their arms would be spared vengeance to be exacted on 'rats and dogs'.
"It's over. The issue has been decided," Gaddafi said. "We are coming tonight...We will find you in your closets. "We will have no mercy and no pity."
Residents said the Libyan air force unleashed three air raids on the city of 670,000 on Thursday and there has been fierce fighting along the Mediterranean coastal road as Gaddafi moves to crush the month-old insurrection.
Rebel National Council head Mustafa Abdel Jalil told Al Jazeera television air strikes were essential to stop Gaddafi.
"We stand on firm ground. We will not be intimidated by these lies and claims... We will not settle for anything but liberation from this regime."
Gaddafi's Defense Ministry warned of swift retaliation, even beyond Libyan frontiers, if the UN voted for military action against the oil-exporting nation.
"Any foreign military act against Libya will expose all air and maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea to danger and civilian and military [facilities] will become targets of Libya's counter-attack," the ministry said in a statement.
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next blog: German researchers make progress with better battery technology

German researchers make progress with better battery technology

The Karlsruhe Insitute of Technology (KIT) is developing batteries that have five times the storage capacity of current lithium-ion batteries.
The German researchers in KIT’s Institute for Nanotechnology are developing a new synthesis of iron-carbon storage materials that could significantly boost battery performance.
Traditional batteries have an energy density that is about 50 times lower than gasoline in an equally large tank. That poses major challenges to the fledgling electric vehicle industry, which currently can build cars with an electric range of only about 150 km.
With KIT’s new experimental technology, various raw materials are mixed with lithium salt and then jointly heated.
Manufacturing costs are low and the process is relatively simple. Today already, the storage capacity of the new material is twice that of traditional batteries.
“If we manage to fully exploit the potential of this new material, we can generate a five-fold improvement in energy density over lithium-ion batteries,” said Maximilian Fichter, who heads the energy storage unit of KIT’s nanotechnology department.
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next blog: White House defends Libya stance, debates options

White House defends Libya stance, debates options

(Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday strongly defended its response to the turmoil in Libya, insisting it has taken "dramatic action" and rebutting criticism that its consensus-based approach is too cautious.(Nikon EN-EL15 Battery)
As President Barack Obama's top advisers met to debate what to do next, Muammar Gaddafi's forces halted a rebel advance in the east of the oil-producing North African country and opposition forces suffered setbacks in the west.(KODAK KLIC-7002 Battery)
A range of options were on the table in the White House situation room, including a "no-fly" zone to ground Gaddafi's warplanes, although U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already warned of the difficulties of such an action.
With Libyan rebels fragmented and disorganized and Gaddafi's forces successfully counter-attacking, the Obama administration has been struggling to craft a strategy that forces Gaddafi from power without entangling the United States in a new war in the Muslim world.(KODAK KLIC-7001 Battery)
Despite its fear that Libya could become what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week called a "giant Somalia," Washington is reluctant to intervene militarily in a messy civil war, especially since the United Nations, NATO and countries in the region are divided on what should be done.
White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed suggestions that Washington had failed to act with sufficient urgency.(Canon LP-E6 Battery)
"There has never been a situation where the international community, with leadership by the United States, has acted as quickly as it has to respond to this kind of situation," he said.
Clinton, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, attended Wednesday's meeting, but it was not expected to lead to any immediate change in U.S. strategy, Carney said.(Canon NB-4L Battery)
The White House session came ahead of Thursday's meeting of NATO defense ministers, including Gates, in Brussels. A U.S. official said Libya options were being "teed up" for discussion there.
A top U.S. general said the United States military was prepared to quickly establish a "no-fly" zone over Libya if the international community decided on that option.
"I believe within a couple days, we would probably be able to implement a no-fly zone," General Raymond Odierno, commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command told an audience at Harvard University in Massachusetts.(Fujifilm NP-80 Battery)
Odierno said it was important that any response to the turmoil in Libya have international backing.
LIBYA VERSUS BALKANS
The United States, embroiled in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been stressing the need for international support for any intervention in Libya. On Tuesday, Clinton said Washington would not act without a U.N. Security Council resolution.(Sony NP-BG1 Battery)
At the Security Council, where Britain and France are pushing for a resolution authorizing a no-fly zone, diplomats said the Americans had made clear they were not ready to press ahead with the measure.(SONY NP-FM50 Battery)
next blog: Sunverge hopes new battery makes a splash in industry

Sunverge hopes new battery makes a splash in industry

At the end of the day, there is one big problem with solar energy production: The sun goes down.
One innovative company that has been quietly researching and toiling away in laboratories for the last two years came out into the spotlight earlier this month with a shining solution to that very problem.(CANON camera battery )
Sunverge, a new company created as a subsidiary of Inertia Energy, unveiled its combo pack of solar panels and laptop battery storage in early February.
The combination offers a lot of bonuses for consumers, said President and co-founder Kenneth Munson. But the benefits to utility companies could be what really lights a fire under the new enterprise, (CASIO camera battery )he said.
The advantage to consumers is that they can spend less on solar panels and still get enough energy from the sun to power their homes completely. Because the company uses sophisticated laptop batteries to store the sun's energy into the evening hours when "people are coming home and using more power," they don't have to buy quite as many solar panels.(FUJIFILM camera battery)
"Of course, you have to add back the camcorder battery cost," Munson said. "But it's still a big savings."
He said that a traditional straight solar array might cost $30,000 to $40,000. A Sunverge system that would accomplish the same ends through different means would cost about $25,000 to $30,000, Munson said.
While that cost savings is appealing to consumers, they will also get bigger benefits from utilities because they won't be buying power during peak times; they'll be supplying it.(KODAK camera battery)
This package could be very well received by utilities, Munson said. Because the energy is stored, and because the company has developed a smart way to group nearby residential homes with its system into a smart meter, utilities will be able to see how much stored energy they have in a collective from Sunverge homes and dispatch that power when and where it's needed, Munson said.(NIKON camera battery)
The Power Tools Batteries Sunverge is using are sophisticated. They work with different kinds of batteries from different manufacturers. The primary choice is a Lithium-Ion chemistry battery, Munson said. But they don't perform well in extreme temperatures, so the company uses different types of batteries.
The batteries themselves are not overly-cumbersome. They fit in with the standard home utility areas and are expected to last 15 to 20 years, Munson said.(SONY camera battery)
The company just announced itself to the market this month and has already seen a lot of interest, Munson said.
next blog: Say What? Top Five IT Quotes of the Week

Say What? Top Five IT Quotes of the Week

"Imagine the sinking feeling of logging in to your Gmail account and finding it empty."
Ben Treynor, Google's vice president of engineering, explaining the recent interruption in service that affected a small percentage of Gmail users.(hp pavilion dv1000 battery) Google later explained that tens of thousands of Gmail users temporarily lost access to emails because of bugs in an update to a storage software program the search giant uses. It took several hours to restore the emails from backup tape drives. (InternetNews)

"I am detecting deception in your response."
Response given by an on-screen avatar during a test run of a new kind of "deception detection machine" being developed at the University of Arizona.(HP pavilion dv9000 ac adapter) While the system relies on an animated avatar, the term is also being used as an acronym for the project, dubbed the Virtual Agent for Truth Assessments in Real-time. The hope is that avatar systems, which include a high-definition camera and infrared sensors that can analyze both a person's facial expressions and voice, will be used by airport security departments.( ibm thinkpad r40 battery) "An agent can't detect changes in your pupil dilation down to the millimeter level, they can't, but the machine can provide that," said Doug Derrick, one of the researchers working on the project at Arizona. (PhysOrg.com and KOLD news video)

"I had this realization a few days ago when I thought I lost my laptop. Then I realized I don't think I have a single piece of information that's solely on my laptop. I think I'm indicative of a future generation."
Daniel Gross, 19-year-old co-founder of startup Greplin, discussing why he thinks there's a need for a new kind of search engine. (dell inspiron 6400 battery)Greplin is a user-authorized search service for finding information in your cloud-based accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs and Salesforce. (Inc.)

"The number of people who use Wi-Fi to access the Internet in coffee shops, bookstores and beyond is growing by leaps and bounds. The quickest and easiest way to shut down this one-stop shop for identity theft is for major websites to switch to secure HTTPS Web addresses instead of the less secure HTTP protocol."(Acer aspire 3000 battery )
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), speaking at a press conference in Manhattan where he called on heavily trafficked websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon to move to the more secure HTTPS protocol. (eSecurity Planet)

"Meanwhile, there are few consequences for technology professionals should they decide to jump to a competitor. Only 11 percent of hiring managers said they would not allow a former employee to return after being poached, while one-third indicated the opposite. (TOSHIBA pa3383u-1brs battery)Most hiring managers say it would depend on the individual employee."
From a report by IT jobs site Dice.com that found that more than half (54 percent) of hiring managers and recruiters expect tech talent poaching will get more aggressive this year, while just 3 percent of those responding expect it to let up. The report also gave a few tips for spotting employees who may be interviewing at other companies, such as a change in habits related to work or a noticeable lack of engagement with colleagues or projects.(Lenovo 3000 g530 battery) Other signals include employees taking large numbers of single-day absences, changing to more formal dress and getting up to date on expense accounts. (eWeek)
We want your quotes. If you see an IT quote that catches your eye or tickles your funny bone, click here to send us a link using our feedback form. Submissions must be received before noon Pacific time on Thursday.
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next blog: Tesla’s European Electric Car Battery Recycling information