GetListy

Key features of Sony Bravia 40″ LCD HDTV

GetListy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:34:45 +0000

Here is a list of the key features of the Sony Bravia 40″ 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV, KDL40S5100:

40″ LCD screen
The Sony Bravia 40″ HDTV boasts a 16:9 full HD 1080p resolution panel (1920 x 1080)
ATSC/NTSC tuner with QAM
This HDTV receives digital broadcasts, including HD programs where available
Vivid 1080p resolution and Dynamic Contrast Ratio of 30,000:1
The Sony Bravia 40″ HDTV delivers rich blacks, bright whites and a beautiful spectrum of color

Additional Features

BRAVIA Engine 2 fully digital video processor
6 HD Inputs (HDMI x3/ Component x2/ PC x1)
BRAVIA Link compatibility
BRAVIA Sync capable
24p True Cinema capable LCD
ACE (Advanced Contrast Enhancer)
LCD with Light Sensor technology
Favorites Menu
VESA compatible hole spacing
ATSC/NTSC tuner with QAM
Exceeds ENERGY STAR 3.0 requirements
Price: $719.00 at Walmart.com

Cast list for ‘NINE’ (movie)

GetListy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:42:39 +0000

NINE, which premiered on Broadway in 1982 to critical acclaim (winning five Tony Awards, including Best Musical), and successfully revived in 2003 (winning another two Tonys, including Best Revival), is now a movie directed by Rob Marshall. Here is the cast list:

Daniel Day-Lewis
Penelope Cruz
Marion Cotillard
Nicole Kidman
Judi Dench
Kate Hudson
Fergie (Stacy Ferguson)
Sophia Loren

Dolly Parton’s ‘Dolly: Live From London’ track list

GetListy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:35:54 +0000

Here is a list of songs on Dolly: Live from London (CD/DVD):

“Two Doors Down”
“Jolene”
“Backwoods Barbie”
“Coat of Many Colors”
“Only Dreamin’”
“Better Get To Livin’”
“Shinola”
“Little Sparrow”
“The Grass Is Blue”
“Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?”
“Here You Come Again”
“Islands In The Stream”
“9 to 5″
“I Will Always Love You”
“Jesus and Gravity”

Tips for extending your iPhone battery’s life

GetListy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:55:41 +0000

Awareness of how you use your iPhone and knowing how long your battery typically lasts can help you improve its battery life. You can view your iPhone usage statistics by tapping the Settings icon on the Home screen and choosing General > Usage. Under the “Time since last full charge” heading you’ll see two items:

Usage: Amount of time iPhone has been awake and in use since the last full charge. The phone is awake when you’re on a call, using email, listening to music, browsing the web, or sending and receiving text messages, or during certain background tasks such as auto-checking email.
Standby: Amount of time iPhone has been powered on since its last full charge, including the time the phone has been asleep.

Update to the Latest Software –Always make sure your iPhone has the latest software from Apple, as engineers may find new ways to optimize battery performance. Using iTunes 8.2 or later, you can update your iPhone with the latest software. Connect your iPhone to your computer, then select iPhone in the Source List. In the Summary panel, click “Check for Updates” to see if there’s a new version of the iPhone software available. Click Update to install the latest version.

Optimize Your Settings – Depending on how they are configured, a few features may decrease your iPhone battery life. For example, the frequency with which you retrieve email and the number of email accounts you auto-check can both affect battery life. The tips below apply to an iPhone running iPhone 3.0 or later software and may help extend your battery life.

Minimize use of location services: Applications that actively use location services such as Maps may reduce battery life. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services or use location services only when needed.
Turn off push notifications: Some applications from the App Store use the Apple Push Notification Service to alert you of new data. Those applications that extensively rely on push notifications (such as instant messaging applications) may impact battery life. To disable push notifications, go to Settings > Notifications and set Notifications to Off. Note that this does not prevent new data from being received when the application is opened. Also, the Notifications setting will not be visible if you do not have any applications installed that support push notifications.
Fetch new data less frequently: Applications such as Mail can be set to fetch data wirelessly at specific intervals. The more frequently email or other data is fetched, the quicker your battery may drain. To fetch new data manually, from the Home screen choose Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Manually. To increase the fetch interval, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Hourly. Note that this is a global setting and applies to all applications that do not support push services.
Turn off push mail: If you have a push mail account such as Yahoo!, MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange, turn off push when you don’t need it. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and set Push to Off. Messages sent to your push email accounts will now be received on your phone based on the global Fetch setting rather than as they arrive. If the global Fetch setting is set to Manually, you will not be able to locate your iPhone using the MobileMe Find My iPhone feature.
Auto-check fewer email accounts: You can save power by checking fewer email accounts. This can be accomplished by turning off an email account or by deleting it. To turn off an account, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose an email account, and set Account to Off. To remove an account, go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars, choose an email account, and tap Delete Account.
Minimize use of third-party applications: Excessive use of applications such as games that prevent the screen from dimming or shutting off or applications that use location services can reduce battery life.
Turn off Wi-Fi: If you rarely use Wi-Fi, you can turn it off to save power. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off. Note that if you frequently use your iPhone to browse the web, battery life may be improved by using Wi-Fi instead of cellular data networks.
Turn off Bluetooth: If you rarely use a Bluetooth headset or car kit, you can turn off Bluetooth to save power. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.
Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas: Because your iPhone always tries to maintain a connection with the cellular network, it may use more power in low- or no-coverage areas. Turning on Airplane Mode can increase battery life in these situations; however, you will be unable to make or receive calls. To turn on Airplane Mode, go to Settings and set Airplane Mode to On.
Adjust brightness: Dimming the screen is another way to extend battery life. Go to Settings > Brightness and drag the slider to the left to lower the default screen brightness. In addition, turning on Auto-Brightness allows the screen to adjust its brightness based on current lighting conditions. Go to Settings > Brightness and set Auto-Brightness to On.
Turn off EQ: Applying an equalizer setting to song playback on your iPhone can decrease battery life. To turn EQ off, go to Settings > iPod > EQ and tap Off. Note that if you’ve added EQ to songs directly in iTunes, you’ll need to set EQ on iPhone to Flat in order to have the same effect as Off because iPhone keeps your iTunes settings intact. Go to Settings > iPod > EQ and tap Flat.
Turn off 3G: Using 3G cellular networks loads data faster, but may also decrease battery life, especially in areas with limited 3G coverage. To disable 3G, from the Home screen choose Settings > General > Network and set Enable 3G to Off. You will still be able to make and receive calls and access cellular data networks via EDGE or GPRS where available.

Lock Your iPhone — It may seem obvious, but you should lock your iPhone when you aren’t using it. You will be able to receive calls and text messages while it is locked, but nothing happens if you touch the screen. To lock iPhone, press the Sleep/Wake button. You can also set the Auto-Lock interval so your iPhone will turn off more quickly after a period of inactivity. To set Auto-Lock, go to Settings > General > Auto-Lock and set the interval to a short time, such as 1 minute.

Use iPhone Regularly — For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery, it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally. Be sure to go through at least one charge cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it down).

Source: Apple

2010’s safest cars and trucks

GetListy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:28:22 +0000

Nineteen cars and 8 SUVs earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick award for 2010. For the first time, good performance in a roof strength test to measure protection in a rollover is required to win. Top Safety Pick recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rear, and now rollover crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also must have electronic stability control, which research shows significantly reduces crash risk. This is the second time the Institute has tightened criteria since announcing the first recipients in 2005.

Subaru is the only manufacturer with a winner in all 4 vehicle classes in which it competes. This automaker earns 5 awards for 2010. Ford and subsidiary Volvo have 6 winners, and Volkswagen/Audi has 5. Chrysler earns 4 awards, continuing a recent trend of improving the crashworthiness of its vehicles. Two new small cars, the Nissan Cube and Kia Soul, join the Top Safety Pick list for 2010.

ALL 27 WINNERS

Large cars

Buick LaCrosse
Ford Taurus
Lincoln MKS
Volvo S80

Midsize cars

Audi A3
Chevrolet Malibu built after October 2009
Chrysler Sebring 4-door with optional electronic stability control
Dodge Avenger with optional electronic stability control
Mercedes C class
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Volkswagen Jetta sedan
Volkswagen Passat sedan
Volvo C30

Small cars

Honda Civic 4-door models (except Si) with optional electronic stability control
Kia Soul
Nissan Cube
Subaru Impreza except WRX
Volkswagen Golf 4-door

Midsize SUVs

Dodge Journey
Subaru Tribeca
Volvo XC60
Volvo XC90

Small SUVs

Honda Element
Jeep Patriot with optional side torso airbags
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan

iTunes’ top business audio books

GetListy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:12:24 +0000

Here is a list of the best-selling business audio books on iTunes:

Most corrupt countries

Bill Sullivan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Watchdog group Transparency International is out with a list of the most and least corrupt countries in the world. The “Corruption Perceptions Index” was published Nov. 17.

Here’s the list of the world’s most corrupt countries:

1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Myanmar
4. Sudan
5. Iraq
6. Chad
7. Uzbekistan
8. Turkmenistan
9. Iran
10. Haiti

To read more about these rankings, visit Transparency International.

Least corrupt countries

Bill Sullivan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:35:57 +0000

Watchdog group Transparency International is out with a list of the most and least corrupt countries in the world. The “Corruption Perceptions Index” was published Nov. 17.

Here’s a look at the least corrupt countries:

1. New Zealand
2. Denmark
3. Singapore
4. Sweden
5. Switzerland
6. Finland
7. Netherlands
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Iceland

To read more about the ratings, visit Transparency International.

2009 Word of the Year and finalists

PR Newswire — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:41:37 +0000

Facebook fans will undoubtedly recognize the New Oxford American Dictionary’s 2009 Word of the Year: unfriend. Unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most ‘un-’ prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar ‘un-’ verbs (uncap, unpack), but ‘unfriend’ is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of ‘friend’ that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

Word of the Year Finalists:

Technology

hashtag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets
intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle
netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers
sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Economy

freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests
zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support

Politics and Current Affairs

Ardi -(Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009
birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s US birth certificate
choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother
death panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed
teabagger – a person who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)

Environment