FTC Chairman: Tax on CE is ‘Terrible Idea’
The FTC was mulling a 5% tax on technology to subsidize the "reinvention of journalism" but FTC chief Jonathan Leibowitz said in a hearing yesterday that the idea is stupid. It looks like the Federal Trade Commission won’t subsidize newspapers by taxing technology after all. They must have read my memo (followed by CEA chief Gary Shapiro’s plea in the Huffington Post). In a ridiculous proposal to bail out journalism, the FTC had considered a 5% tax on... read full article


Why smartphones may replace your remote control.
Well, TV remote control, it was a very impressive 60-year run. But it may soon be time to say goodbye. No more lost weekends between the couch cushions. No more swapping the order of your AA batteries to get a few more seconds of juice in order to click away from a blaring infomercial. At least, that seems to be the writing on the wall-sized HDTV. The living room electronics convergence that was promised back in the late '90s has finally started to materialize. Our video game consoles download movies. Our set-top cable boxes can display our friends' Twitter.... read full article


Smart House – Home automation reduces electricity by 40%
One of our friends (@IanMercer) showed us his home automation project which used 40% less energy than he used to use. He is able to obtain these results by simply creating a home that is smart about energy and gas usage. For example he has programmed his home to shut down lights in an entire zone of the house when not in use. Also his home is able to differentiate between an eventing out and a long vacation and change energy settings to best fit each situation. Imagine the possibilities: keeping the lights dim depending on the amount of sunlight, shutting down power... read full article


5 Overlooked Home Areas to Automate
Lights and thermostats aren’t the only items you should think about automating -- consider gates, windows, weathervanes and more. It’s always good to think outside the box, especially when it comes to your home. After all, who wants to live in a cookie-cutter kind of abode? Having an automation system installed in your home is a good first step to creating a house that’ll have the whole neighborhood buzzing. Driving by sophisticated processors and able to be programmed by a professional custom electronic professional, an automation system can manage, control and communicate with just about anything with an electronic pulse... read full article