Posted in technology, tagged ABC, AccuWeather, Acu-Rite, Ambient Weather, Android, apps, barometric trend, blank, blank screen, broadcast, burned, cable, call, Cheney Instruments, company, compare, complaints, consumer, consumer confidence, consumer fatigue, contact, customer, customer service, customers, data, demand, desktop, device, disapointment, discontinued, display, disposable gadget, e-waste, executives, failure, Flash Forward, forecast icon, gadget, Garmin, gizmo, GPS, GPS weather, home weather station, Internet, iPhone, La Crosse Technology, landfills, lineup, MagicJack, media, method, MSN Direct, new season, news, no longer works, not as reliable, Oregon Scientific, outage, POTS, press release, products, publicity, radio signal, radio-controlled, reason, recommendation, sensor, service, smartphone, solution, stock, V, VoIP, Weather Direct, weather forecast, weather service, weather stations, write on January 3, 2012 |
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I remember it well: standing in the Sharper Image store debating between a three-day Bushnell wireless weather forecaster featuring AccuWeather forecasts and an Oregon Scientific model alongside it that offered more detailed information from a competing service provider, MSN Direct. Both weather stations did something unique: They didn’t require owners to hook up outdoor sensors that generate fickle forecast icons based purely on barometric pressure as opposed to a bona fide regional weather forecast. These weather forecast alternatives, unlike the vast majority of weather gadgets on the market, receive a radio signal that automatically displays forecast data from a genuine weather service.
For a weather junkie or just about anyone who doesn’t want to watch several minutes of TV, boot up a computer or drain a battery on a smartphone merely to check the weather, having weather alerts, pollen counts, humidity and UV Index information at a single glance at no cost beyond that of the device itself seems almost too good to be true. And, in hindsight, it was too good to be true. For those of us who chose wrong, the convenience was not to last. MSN Direct, the service provider for Oregon Scientific-branded weather units, powered down its US and Canadian network of FM radio transmitters on January 1, 2012. And yet, weather watchers were not the only ones to lose. MSN Direct broadcast a variety of data including traffic information, gasoline prices, Doppler weather maps, news, stocks, local events, movie listings to a variety of devices, all of which began with the debut of Microsoft’s novel “Spot” wristwatch in 2004.
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Posted in economy, politics, technology, tagged adapt, adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, barrel, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, brick and mortar, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, capacity, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, coffers, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, deals, debt, debtor, deficits, defunct, demand, demise, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, drivers, e-commerce, e-retailers, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, encroach, energy, entitlements, erosion, evolution, expectations, Federal, financial, forecast, fossil fuels, free shipping, frugal, fund, future, gains, gasoline, globalization, GNP, governments, Green, Greening, growth, hardware, here to stay, heritage, hikes, hindsight, horizon, income, increases, independence, inflation, infrastructure, innovation, internet shopping, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Goodell, jobless recovery, jobs, landscape, lifestyle, lingering, local, local color, long term, loss, losses, market forces, marketplace, Marshalls, money, moneysaver, mouse, myth, necessity, new normal, oases, oil, oil refineries, out of business, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, ramifications, rates, reality, red tag, refining, regulation, retail, retailers, revolution, risks, Robert B. Putnam, Ross, sales, scale back, sell, shift, shipping, shop, shop locally, shoppers, shopping, signs of life, Social Security, society, spend, stagnation, standard of living, state, suburbia, SUVs, TARP, tax base, tax revenues, tax-free, taxation, thrift, time, TJ Maxx, toll, too little too late, towns, trade, transport, travel, trends, unintended, United States, urban, vacuum, wages, weak, web, web bargains, websites, welfare, workforce on March 22, 2010 |
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For years “energy independence” has been the catch-all solution promoted by politicians, talk radio hosts, newspaper columnists and others who point out that the U.S. is short on oil refining capacity. Nonetheless, petroleum production facilities are not only in the process of downsizing in response to a weak economy, but permanently so the Los Angeles Times reports in “Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks” [March 11, 2010].
The oil industry, which as recently as 2007 broke so many profit records that allegations of collusion and price-gouging surfaced, is singing a different tune: Limiting supply to increase sagging profit margins is the solution, analysts say, for losses induced by everything from fuel efficient cars to retiring baby boomers who no longer commute to and from work.
And to think: Just a few years ago SUVs, with their paltry ~13 mpg, were the rage from Coast to Coast. Could it be that Cash for Clunkers, unintentionally so, was a little too effective — or are oil industry insiders selling Americans up the river when they can least afford it? Whatever the case may be, nothing says Green like fuel-efficient automobiles and the beginnings of an alternative energy infrastructure. Even so, the picture the LAT paints is far from complete. The Perfect Storm of tightening supply, increasing commodity prices, rising taxes and further job losses looms on the horizon.
Hang on to your hat! The price of life is going up.
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