Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, Household

Modestly-named Exceptional Innovation went all out at CEDIA last week, announcing a complete line of hardware to go along with its Life|ware Media Center-based home control solution. The beast of the bunch is the the Life|storage digital media server, packing an ample 1.5 terabytes of RAID 5 storage in a rack mounted unit, with a Pentium D processor and 2GB of RAM to power the Windows XP embedded OS. The Life|vision digital TV server should compliment that nicely, also based on Windows XP Embedded with a Pentinum D and 2GB of RAM but, naturally, adding some TV tuners to the mix (up to four analog or digital to suit your prefs), as well as some basic DVR functionality. But to really give your home that dated-in-two-years look, you'll need to trick it out with touchpanels in every room, and EI will gladly hook you up there with its Life|point 16:9 in-wall touchscreens (available in 8.9-inch and 12.1-inch models), which'll let you control every connected bit of your house and access your stored media. Also announced were the Life|controller home automation system controller and the Life|link Web Services for Devices (WSD) module, both of which will allow for various other systems (like lighting and security) to be integrated into your setup. No word on prices for any of this gear, but it's really more the sort of thing you get a quote on instead of checking the weekend flyers for the cheapest prices.

 

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We've got some Zune battery life numbers thanks to Cesar of Zune Insider fame. The Zune will apparently get 13 hours of audio playback with wireless on, and 14 hours with wireless off. This, with the player doing absolutely nothing else while playing music—no backlight, no fiddling for songs, no picking your nose, no volume adjustment.

For video, there's going to be a 4 hour battery life (not sure if this is wireless on or off). These Zune numbers aren't impressive, but they are around the same as the 30GB iPod Model which has 14 hours of music and 3.5 hours of video. So it seems the Zune's needs a bigger battery to match the 30GB iPod in terms of usage (thanks to its larger screen), which contributes to the Zune's bulk. – Jason Chen

Battery Life [Zune Insider]

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boxing day 2006

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西欧来了暴风，台湾又震了一次，这世界挺好玩。 一场强烈的暴风18日席卷西北欧多个国家，时速超过100公里。荷兰至少有2人死亡，英国已有4人因大风造成的事故丧生。美国国务卿赖斯对德国的访问也因暴风的影响提前结束。 昨天发生了N多起交通事故，德国铁路今早已经限制运营。有趣的是昨天晚上楼长挨家挨户来告诉我们关闭门窗，不要外出。 不过现在窗外一片阳光明媚，不知道晚上是否再次风暴来临。

西欧来了暴风，台湾又震了一次，这世界挺好玩。 一场强烈的暴风18日席卷西北欧多个国家，时速超过100公里。荷兰至少有2人死亡，英国已有4人因大风造成的事故丧生。美国国务卿赖斯对德国的访问也因暴风的影响提前结束。 昨天发生了N多起交通事故，德国铁路今早已经限制运营。有趣的是昨天晚上楼长挨家挨户来告诉我们关闭门窗，不要外出。 不过现在窗外一片阳光明媚，不知道晚上是否再次风暴来临。

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在德国一般的公寓，学生宿舍，也就是除了自己家房外的一幢幢楼房几乎都会有全天候24小时的热水供应。 其中比较新盖的多是集体热水供应，像学生宿舍。我也不清楚热水是从哪来，反正学校是没有锅炉的，只是在学校的周围能看到很粗的管道，而且取暖应该也是用的同一个管道。这样的热水不能饮用，当然没有人说不可以，但我的直觉是不可以，因为冷水和热水是分开的，很可能热水在打着循环。 还有便是使用热水器，分成两种，一种为烧电的（和国内的差不多），一种为烧天然气的。老式楼房采用的是烧天然气，我现在住的学生宿舍便是这种。天然气同样是管道供应，德国是没有煤气罐的。在每户里都会有一台热水器，平时它是一直以最小火的状态点着的。当你使用热水时，它便会自动加大天然气的供应，热水立刻便有了。用完关掉水后，它又恢复到最小火仅维持它燃烧的状态。 不过这种需要烧的热水器偶尔会灭掉。以前倒不是很频繁，基本一个月也不会有一次。但最近不知道是风大原因还是老化了，几乎每关掉热水时它便会灭掉。 好的是德国所有使用天然气的装置，比如炉子，热水器都是有安全设置的。像天然气正在燃烧状态突然灭掉，它不会像国内的煤气罐一样便开始漏气，而是自动切断了供应。但麻烦的是点燃它的方式和国内的也不一样。首先需要按下天然气供应的按钮后再点火，在燃烧后需要一直按住供应按钮，持续个半分钟后再放开，天然气便开始自动供应燃烧了。如果按得时间过短，便有可能不继续供应天然气而灭掉。 我一直搞不明白这种可以灭火自动断气的装置其机械原理是怎么样的，这种技术很值得在国内推广，至少不用担心啥时火突然灭了人却不知道，而造成意外事故。

Darren Barefoot voices his dismay over all the Second Life hype by creating a very, very funny parody site called “Get a First Life.” The site describes itself as a “3D analog world” and suggests you “access your closet to build your First Life look.” My favorite line is “Fornicate using your actual genitals.” Hilarious. No comment [...]