domesticated

When the Kindle 2 was first released, we reported on the small controversy over how dark the text and images appeared on the screen compared to the original Kindle. Held side by side, the original appeared to have better contrast and the text appeared slightly darker--and slightly easier to read.

Well, when we reviewed the new AT&T-powered version of the Kindle 2, which Amazon calls "Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation)," we noticed that the text appeared darker on this model than on the older Sprint-powered Kindle 2. It's not … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--A federal judge on Tuesday heard arguments in a case that centers on an important constitutional principle: can the Feds immunize any telecommunications company that violated the law by opening its network to government snoops?

That was the question debated in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker on Tuesday. Lawyers with the U.S. Justice Department, who sought to persuade Walker to throw out lawsuits pending against the telecommunications companies, told him the government engages in a variety of activities designed to "protect the heartland." Those in the Bush administration have said the lawsuits … Read more

Soaring cost estimates for protecting US borders against nuclear smuggling arrived at by the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) are unreliable and could result in "significant" overruns, according to a Government Accounting Agency (GAO) report.

How significant? The projected cost to implement the Radiation Portal Monitor Program has gone from $399 million in 2003, when the Customs and Border Protection was in charge of the project, to $1.3 billion when DNDO took over in 2005. In 2007 the cost of equipping US ports with portal monitors was $1.7 billion. It's now $2.1 billion. But … Read more

Sen. Barack Obama is taking heat from liberal supporters for changing his position on granting phone companies involved in President Bush's domestic spying program retroactive immunity for breaking federal laws.

According to a New York Times article published Wednesday, more than 7,000 Obama supporters have organized on Obama's own campaign Web site to protest his recent move to support legislation that will grant legal immunity to phone companies involved in the National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program after the September 11 attacks.

Previously, Obama opposed any immunity for the telecom companies. In February, Obama voted on a Senate bill against retroactive immunity. … Read more

On Thursday, the Anti-Spyware Coalition will meet in Washington. Included will be experts from McAfee, Google, and the Pew Internet & American Life project to discuss the latest in spyware trends. In addition to the well-known damage caused by spyware--hawking advertising, stealing passwords, and slowing down PCs--McAfee is calling attention to a little known aspect of spyware: domestic abuse.

"Using spyware for surveillance in cases of domestic abuse is a serious matter," says Anna Stepanov, who manages the Anti-Spyware program at McAfee Avert Labs. She's written a report titled Spyware: A Morphing Campaign (in PDF), which chronicles … Read more

A few weeks ago we took a look at Chorebuster (review), a complex, yet very powerful chore management tool. Today, one that's been making the rounds around the office is Chore Wars, a seemingly ridiculous concept that attempts to make repetitive tasks like washing the dishes and vacuuming worthwhile for things besides sanitation. Did we mention this is set in a magical universe with monsters, treasure and certain peril?

The concept is simple: users band together in guilds, and give household chores various reward levels. Those rewards translate into character upgrades, in a Web based MMORPG that you play with your friends, family, or roommates. Consider it like a very stripped-down version of World of Warcraft, where leveling up requires some real-life elbow grease.

While it doesn't play like a video game, Chore Wars has a simplified Web interface that lets members of your party create and claim chores. The actual chore creation process is a joy, with a simple Web form that lets you fill in the name of the chore, along with values for gained experience points, gold, and various character attributes. The real fun, however, is thinking up treasure and monsters, which you have the potential to run into every time you claim to have done a chore. This opens up a dialog where you can find out if you've managed the task unscathed, or run into perils you or others have dreamed up.

The real nitty-gritty of Chore Wars is its management system, which lets users easily claim chores using a drop-down menu, or by picking one from the "adventure" page. You can keep track of the chores each user has claimed, as each one gets its own status update (a la Twitter), along with a time stamp to let you know when it was taken care of. What might be the only dampener here, is that as group administrator, there isn't a way to dole out chores to other users, or separate chores that are individual from those that are communal. In this sense, Chore Wars fails. However, if you have kids or roommates who are honest about taking care of things, this honor system works.… Read more

We used to joke that Japan was hurtling toward a human-free society, but now we're starting to worry that it's true. The island nation, already concerned about its rapidly declining population (of humans), has recently debuted bots that can clean buildings, plow snow, detect smoke and even police grounds while others escort hospital patients and take their temperatures.

But now robots are entering the ultimate inner sanctum: the kitchen. BornRich says a team of more than 40 Japanese researchers spent four years creating a domestic bot that can, among other things, wash dishes. (Maybe it's not such … Read more

One of the very few families I know that actually had a TV in their fridge was the Bluths. (OK, I don't really know them. But thanks to Fox, I got to see inside their model home every week for three seasons, so it totally feels that way.)

I don't recall any of them actually watching their fantastic TV fridge, but that's probably because, like actual humans, comically dysfunctional television characters don't fancy standing around their kitchen for their viewing pleasure. (Though the Bluths might make an exception for a vintage Cornballer infomercial.)

Here's where … Read more

Cell phones and MP3 players aren't the only things that can be gussied up. Yes, even the lowly washing machine can become a swan with the right wardrobe. Well, sort of.

Samsung is apparently taking a Vegas approach to domestic appliances with this red washing machine (or is it magenta?) by Korean designer Andre Kim. By the looks of this photo, he and Samsung apparently think the stainless-steel Viking-range look is out. (If this is the alternative, we beg to differ.)

But we're no experts. If Swarovski can do a fridge, why not do your laundry in style … Read more