- Smartphones and tablets already serve as phones, address
books, organizers, computers and more, so AT&T is merely looking to add
another useful function to their existence with its new service that it
announced on Friday. The telecom giant announced Friday that it has created a
service allowing customers to use smartphones or tablets to activate home alarm systems and perform
other duties like open doors for guests or adjust the temperature in their
domicile. The Digital Life home security and management system will be rolled
out in selected U.S. cities for monthly subscription prices starting at $30
after installation charges. "People rely on their mobile devices more than
ever, so Digital Life offers an easy and convenient way to secure their homes,
protect their families and simplify their lives from virtually anywhere,"
AT&T senior vice president Kevin Petersen said in a statement. AT&T
wisely has developed apps for personal computers as well as smartphones or
tablets that are available for Apple, Android or Windows mobile software. These
apps allow users to remotely control cameras, door locks, lights, thermostats
and appliances. The Digital Life system also includes alarm systems and
monitoring centers, according to AT&T. It can even be customized with
options such as viewing feeds from security cameras online or remotely
controlling door locks. It sounds like the perfect tool for the paranoid home
owner or one who simply isn’t good at always remembering their keys. Of course,
keeping track of one’s phone can be just as difficult………
- The Weiner is back and there could be plenty more for New
Yorkers – and the world – to see. Disgraced former congressman Anthony “Yes,
that is my” Weiner, who resigned in 2011 after a scandal surrounding his
brilliant decision to tweet a link picture of his bulging groin region to a
21-year-old woman in Seattle, is venturing back into politics as a candidate
for mayor in New York City and he’s making the rounds on various television and
radio shows in an attempt to convince the public that he’s the next disgraced
politician who should receive a second chance. He did a round of TV sitdowns
today and while Weiner wanted to keep the focus on challenger Christine Quinn
and term limits, those interviewing him curiously kept asking about his very
public cybersex habits. Weiner, realizing how futile it would be to attempt to
evade every question about his sexting ways, admitted that the archive of suggestive
pictures that already exist of him online may not be the full extent of his
debauchery. The mayoral hopeful admitted that sent sexy messages for "a
couple of years" and that not all of them have come to light. "If
reporters want to go try to find more, I can't say that they're not going to be
able to find another picture, or find another person who may want to come out
on their own," Weiner said. "The basics of the story are not going to
change.” The basics might not change, but adding more chapters to this X-rated
book clearly would not be the best development for someone who wants to the
mayor of Manhattan. One would imagine that anyone in possession of an
unreleased Weiner weiner shot would have plenty of incentive to release said
shot when it would do the most damage – i.e. right before election day. "Basically,
New Yorkers know the story. I did it. I did it with multiple people,"
Weiner added. “These things were wrong and inappropriate, and I never should
have been dishonest about it. They played out in the most public and embarrassing
way possible. And that's it.” Except that may not be all of it………
- Releasing a new album is often a stressful and trying
experience for a band. It can test members’ unity, sanity and chemistry and
depending on the amount of illegal narcotics and alcohol involved in the
recording process, can also wreak long-term havoc on each member’s internal
organs. For Vampire
Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig, the process of making the band’s third album,
“Modern Vampires of the City,” nearly pushed him to the point of walking away
from music entirely. The album is set to drop on label XL on May 13, but it
almost never happened as Koenig conceded that he contemplated quitting music
and getting a more traditional job before fully committing to the new album. "I
still loved music but I had this weird feeling," Koenig said. “I met a lot
of people who worked in movies and TV and I thought, 'Well, if I just started
out as a writer’s assistant, I could start a new job at the very bottom. But
when I say I daydream about going to law school or becoming a freedom fighter
instead, it’s not because I’m brave or restless.'” Vampire Weekend has become
something of a hipster darling on the indie rock scene and their third album is
highly anticipated on that indie scene, so having the lead singer quit before
the project event started definitely would have thrown the music world for a
loop, even more so if Koenig walked away to become a paralegal or a writer’s one-off
shows at assistant. Instead, he found his muse once more and now his band is
ramping up promotional efforts for their latest release with New York’s
Roseland Theatre this Sunday and London’s The Troxy on May 2. They will
presumably have their lead singer in place for those shows unless an exciting
new career grabs his attention in the next day or so……..
- Prepare to (not) be shocked and (not) be astonished,
world. In the least surprising news since we learned that water is wet, a human
rights group has alleged that Russian despot Vladimir Putin’s regime has launched an
"unprecedented" crackdown on political activists and civil society
groups. Human Rights Watch made the claims in a report released this week and
the report described a "nationwide campaign" of harassment and
intimidation by Putin’s tyrannical government. In a not-a-coincidence
occurrence, the report dropped the very same day outspoken Putin critic Alexei
Navalny asked a court to throw out what he said were trumped-up charges
intended to silence him. Foreign governments have criticized what they deem a
series of human concerns in Russia, including restrictions to harsh fines for
unsanctioned political meetings, electoral fraud and the detention and trial of
citizens without due process and the title of the HRW report, "Laws of
Attrition: The Crackdown on Russia’s Civil Society after Putin’s Return to the
Presidency," seems to back those claims up. “Putin’s government has
sought to portray critics as "clandestine enemies" a number of
political activists have been jailed and a series of restrictive laws,
including one against treason that could criminalize international human rights
campaigners and others that impose "draconian limits on association with
foreigners," have been passed,” the report states. If one believes a
report from a human rights watch group, in Russia have been subjected to
"intrusive" inspections about a raft of matters such as tax affairs,
fire safety and air quality. "Taken together, the laws and government
actions described in this report violate Russia’s international legal
obligations to protect freedom of association, expression, and assembly and
threaten the viability of Russia’s vibrant civil society," the report
said. A cynic might view all of this as further evidence that Russia has
stopped bothering to pretend that it gives a damn about its international human
rights obligations, but let’s not jump to hasty conclusions………
- It’s already been quite a weekend for ex-LSU cornerback Tharold Simon. Simon is
a fringe late-round draft pick who may hear his name called at the NFL draft
but will definitely hear his name called by a judge in a Louisiana courtroom
very, very soon. Simon did not attend the draft, as likely late-round
selections tend not to do, and instead was in his hometown of Eunice, La. to be
recognized on what the city had designated “Tharold Simon Day.” Before that day
arrived, Simon had quite a day courtesy of Eunice’s finest. He was arrested
Thursday night and charged with public intimidation, resisting arrest and
unnecessary noise. Local news outlets reported that Simon’s trouble started
when his vehicle was blocking a street and he was asked to move it. In a true “Do
you know who I am” moment, he elected not to move the vehicle and instead told
the officer "I own Eunice" and "I'm going to buy these projects
and you are going to be mine," before getting into his car, spinning his
wheels, backing up in “an aggressive manner” and “turning his radio all the way
up.” He was summarily arrested and continued his defiance, telling the officer
that "the mayor was on my side" and that the officer would be fired
for giving him a ticket. His agent, Peter Schaffer, jumped into action quickly,
disputing the police report and saying the officer overacted in a
"shameful" abuse of power. "There
were 30 witnesses. We've talked to about 20. They all corroborate Tharold's
story. He did nothing wrong. The police overreacted," Schaffer said.
"We're 100 percent confident he'll be completely exonerated and that
charges should never be filed." The arrest isn't likely to inspire any
teams to move Simon up their draft board, not for a player who only started one
year at LSU and recorded a solid 45 tackles and four interceptions but was not
a game changer in any sense. In light of Simon’s arrest, a ceremony Friday
night in downtown Eunice commemorating "Tharold Simon Day" was
canceled, although Mayor Rusty Moody said e hoped no one would rush to
judgment. "I wasn't there. I've heard two versions, and in the United States
you're innocent until proven guilty, and people need to consider the feelings
of Tharold and his family also," Moody said. "He really is a good guy
and he's looked up to by a lot of the children in town. He's a football
hero." Yes, a guy who was suspended for the Auburn game in 2011 after testing
positive for smoking synthetic marijuana and (allegedly) tried to big-time and
threaten a cop is clearly a great human being and role model……..
No comments:
Post a Comment