Saturday, June 29, 2013

SmartThings opens up its home automation platform to developers

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SmartThings opens up home automation platform to developers

To say SmartThings' Kickstarter campaign was a success is an understatement: the Internet of Things outfit, which offers a clever array of home automation sensors, routers and smartphone apps, raised more than $1.2 million (over four times the company's original goal), nabbed over 6,000 backers and quickly sold out of its first batch of kits. Naturally, the company isn't stopping there -- it's making good on its goal of providing an open-source platform for developers, as it announced the availability of its Developer and Inventor Toolkit. Now, interested parties can create and develop their own SmartThings, and can collaborate with like-minded folks to come up with even more ways to take advantage of the platform. Additionally, it supports several types of wireless standards, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee and Z-Wave, giving it interoperability with various home automation systems.

As a refresher, SmartThings connects a large number of household items -- appliances, automatic door locks, thermostats, humidity sensors, presence sensors, power outlet switches, IR remotes, secret bookcase doors and plenty more -- to a central router which then can be controlled through a smartphone app. Thanks to the openness of the platform, the number of use-case scenarios is rather significant, which certainly makes it more appealing to users. If you're interested in learning how to get started, head below to the press release and go here to get the whole enchilada of information.

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Today at the AllThingsD: D11 conference SmartThings, the open platform for the Internet of Things, announced the public roll out of its Developer and Inventor toolkit. SmartThings helps turn your smartphone into the remote control for your everyday life. With the toolkit, developers can now build applications for the physical world that solve real problems and inventors can create new types of connected devices that integrate with the SmartThings platform.

The SmartThings platform can already help solve practical problems in your life such as alerting you when you forget to close the window when a storm is coming, adjusting the thermostat when you come/go, turning your lights on and off, closing the garage door when the car leaves, etc. SmartThings embraces and depends upon the developer and inventor community to continue to produce new and exciting use cases of its platform. So far the open community has created a SmartThings-controlled pet feeder, a baby mobile controlled via voice sensor, a movie theater remote to dim the lights and start the popcorn, and many more.

The SmartThings Developer & Inventor Toolkit includes everything needed to create and rollout new SmartThings, such as an open community at build.smartthings.com that enables collaboration with other developers and inventors around the world;open source examples for more than 50 SmartApps; training, documentation, and support from the SmartThings team; and afull web-based, integrated development environment (IDE).

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Sofia Coppola Discusses Privacy and Fame in T Magazine

The Bling Ring director and mother of two girls recently sat down with her old friend, socialite Lee Radziwill, to discuss fame, the normalization of "trash culture," and privacy in T. (Radziwill herself was a T cover girl back in February.) Below, some juicy excerpts.

On the horror of Coppola's daughters turning out like the characters in The Bling Ring:

Radziwill: Imagine if your girls were as obsessed with celebrities and clothes! You would be in such despair.

Coppola: I know. I don’t know if I would have been as interested in this if I didn’t have daughters and know that they’re growing up in this world. I think that’s the way that it’s affecting, because these are kids in the movie, they’re so young and impressionable.

Coppola: To be private seems normal to me. In a magazine recently there was some personality talking about some private health issue, and I thought, Why not keep that private?

Radziwill: You keep yourself at a distance without being unfriendly. You have dignity, which is really rare in the entertainment world. Everybody wants to be out there until you’re so sick of their faces and their magazine covers that you think, Oh no, not again. With you, at first I thought, Well, she’s incredibly shy, but I understood it so well.

On youth being so fame-hungry these days:

Perhaps, but most kids aren't reared in already-famous families.


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Watch Fox News Panic Over the Rise of Female Breadwinners

Ugh. Who told Fox News that 40% of primary breadwinners in families with children are now women? This kind of stuff terrifies Lou Dobbs and his male colleagues, leaving them panicked and histrionic, free-associating apocalyptic clichés.

Weighing on the Pew Research Poll last night, Juan Williams said the rise of female breadwinners means there’s “something going terribly wrong in American society and it’s hurting our children.”

“Those are the children who survive,” Dobbs replied. “54 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. What has been the impact? What does it say about our society? High school drop outs...”

Next, Erik Erickson said that encouraging female breadwinners is like denying climate change:

Doug Schoen concluded: “We’re losing a generation. Bottom line, it could undermine our social order.”

At least Fox spared itself the hypocrisy of including one of its many, popular female anchors and correspondents in the debate.


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Tesla details Supercharger expansion, NYC to LA road trips possible by year's end

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Tesla's perpetually free Supercharger station has already enabled the driving of about a million miles, totally free, to owners of the Model S sedan. However, availability of that network has been very limited. Unless you live in very specific areas of NY or CA, you've been out of luck. That's beginning to change. Following up on Elon Musk's D11 appearance, Tesla has announced that by the end of next month it will triple the size of the Supercharger network, covering crucial routes like Vancouver to Portland (with Seattle in between) and Dallas to Austin. New connection points will open in Illinois, Colorado, New York and, yes, California.

But wait, there's more. Within six months the network will spread further and, before the end of the year, Tesla promises you'll be able to drive from New York to Los Angeles in your Model S -- so long as you don't mind stopping for 20-minute recharges every couple-hundred miles. Finally, by mid-2014, Tesla promises its network will "stretch across the continent" and cover "almost the entire population of US and Canada." (Sorry, Hawaii.) PR and video featuring more details after the break.

Supercharger Announcement from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.

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TESLA DRAMATICALLY EXPANDS SUPERCHARGER NETWORK, DELIVERING CONVENIENT, FREE LONG DISTANCE DRIVING THROUGHOUT U.S. AND CANADA


THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013 – Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) today announced significant expansion of the Tesla Supercharger network. Supercharging enables Tesla Model S drivers to travel long distances, for free, indefinitely.

The expansion of the network builds upon the success of the Tesla Supercharger network that covers California and Nevada on the west coast and the Washington, DC to Boston region on the east coast. The Tesla Supercharger network has enabled an estimated 1 million miles of driving since going live in October 2012. Superchargers are designed for city to city travel, enabling Model S electric vehicle drivers to travel for about three hours, take a 20 to 30 minute break to grab lunch or a soda or coffee, and get back on the road charged up. For free.

With the accelerated rollout of the Tesla Supercharger network, Model S drivers can expect:

· Triple the number of Tesla Supercharger stations by the end of next month, including additional stations in California, coverage of the northwest region from Vancouver to Seattle to Portland, Austin to Dallas in Texas, Illinois and Colorado. There will also be four additional eastern seaboard stations, expanding the density of the network to provide for more convenient stopping points.

· Within six months the Tesla Supercharger network will connect most of the major metro areas in the US and Canada, including expansion into Arizona, additional stations in Texas, Florida, and the Midwest, stations connecting Ottawa to Montreal, and across North and South Carolina into Georgia. It will also be possible to travel diagonally across the country from Los Angeles to New York using only the Tesla Supercharger network.

· A year from now, the Tesla Supercharger network will stretch across the continent, covering almost the entire population of the US and Canada. The expansion of the network will mean that Model S drivers can take the ultimate road trip -- whether that's LA to New York, Vancouver to San Diego, or Montreal to Miami – without spending a cent on fuel.

In addition to the expansion of the Tesla Supercharger network itself, Tesla is improving the technology behind the Tesla Supercharger to dramatically decrease the amount of time it takes to charge Model S, cutting charging time in half relative to early trials of the system. The new technology, which is in beta test mode now and will be fully rolled out to customers this summer, will allow Model S to be charged at 120 kW, replenishing three hours of driving in just over 20 minutes.

ABOUT TESLA
Tesla Motors' (NASDAQ: TSLA) goal is to accelerate the world's transition to electric mobility with a full range of increasingly affordable electric cars. California-based Tesla designs and manufactures EVs, as well as EV powertrain components for partners such as Toyota and Daimler. Tesla has delivered more than 10,000 electric vehicles to customers in 31 countries.

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Look at Charli XCX’s Gloriously Dirty Hair

Maybe you already are familiar with the British singer-songwriter because you watched her sultry cover of the Backstreet Boy's "I Want It That Way." But if you didn't, then let me introduce you to the talented young crooner and her incredible mound of hair. Watch the YouTube clip of her cover and see how she flips it from one side to the other. There's so much hair, and it's healthy. 

Initial analysis of her follicles suggests that she is the owner of naturally squiggly hair. But curly hair is prone to epic bouts of frizziness; hers is well-maintained and glossy. To keep the frizz at bay and her ends conditioned, there's a chance she gives it a daily dose of hair oil, like L'Oreal's Mythic Oil. She also probably rarely washes it (a universal truth for healthier follicles) and spritzes in some leave-in conditioner in the evenings before whipping the strands into braids. This nightly routine will help her curls keep their shape and structure for the next day.

To complete your Charli XCX transformation, also rim your eyes in black. On top, draw an exaggerated cat-eye shape with liquid liner, then lightly smudge a pencil liner (Clinique's has a built-in sponge smudger) along the waterline on the bottom. Midriff-baring T-shirt and schoolgirl-uniform skirt are optional.


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Hillary Clinton Will Indeed Attend the CFDA Awards!

It's official! Hillary Clinton will attend the CFDA Awards on Monday night to present the Founders Award to her old pal and number-one outfitter Oscar de la Renta. Maybe she'll even reprise the sleeves she wore the last time she went, in 2002 ... but probably not. Let this be a lesson to all the Johnny Depps of the world who say they're "too busy" to collect their CFDA honors: If Hillary can make it, you have no excuse.


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