The Best of CES [Ces2010]

CES week meant one thing: Absolute gadget overload. Here's the best of Gizmodo's dispatches from gadget hell, all in one place.

Monday—The Pre-Pre-Pre-Show


This is the day that the press starts to show up, and when the conference begins to assume its horrible shape. It's not really CES, but it's starting to feel that way.

• MSI's lineup semi-leaked, including a dual-screen ereader and a 3D laptop. These, nt coincidentally, will be concepts and words you'll be unbelievably tired of by the end of the week. GET READY FOR 3D EREADERS, Y'ALL.

• There was a washer/dryer with Android. Why? Why not? (But really, why?)

• And we did a little recon on the main CES building. What we found: 3D, 3D, 3D, 3D.

Tuesday—Day Zero


The show floor isn't open yet, but the press conferences are starting in full force. This means interesting announcements! And gadget spam. But mostly announcements.

• Lenovo dumped the first true banner products of the show, with the IdeaCenter 300a ultrathin AIO, the first Snapdragon smartbook, and a capacitive multitouch netbook tablet.

• Iomega figured out how to make your entire PC portable.

• This is kind of inevitable: A 24-hour 3D channel is coming in 2011. It will show Avatar on loop, I think.

• Vizio's aiming upscale for once, with 480Hz, locally dimming LED 3D TVs. And a bizarrely wide 21x9 TV, which is proportioned roughly like a billboard.

• A pico projector with a projection you can actually manipulate with your fingers.

• Asus confirmed their commitment to Bamboo-trimmed faux-eco-laptops, designer netbooks for the lay-deez, and ridiculous giant desktop replacements with dual trackpads. They also predicted the future, and gave it a stupid name: Waveface.

• We got to play with the Lenovo IdeaPad hybrid tablet...thing. It's got a ton of potential.

• An HDTV in a polar bear.

• I ran Spring Design's dual-screened Android ereader through its paces. It's a geekier Nook.

• We heard rumblings about a multitouch HP tablet, codeveloped with Microsoft. It sounds a little Courier-y, but almost definitely not the Courier.

Wednesday—Day One


The show floor still isn't open, but the new hardware is coming fast and hard.

• Sling unveiled three new ways to share your TV with yourself (it's what they do!), including a USB Slingbox. Their new remote control is supremely sexy, but also only available from your cable or sat provider.

• LG assured Plasma fans that they're still in the game, and put their LED TVs on a dangerous crash diet. Then they threw a hard drive into their top-line Blu-ray player, because nobody stopped them. Meanwhile, set-top boxes inched closer to obsolescence.

• Netgear's new wireless-N routers can receive and share both 3G and WiMax. Meanwhile, dedicated 3G and WiMax sharing hardware inched closer to obsolescence.

• Philips' Research Labs is making good on the color ebook reader promise, one tech demo at a time.

• AT&T will finally get some Android phones, courtesy of HTC, Dell and Motorola. They're also getting two webOS (Palm) phones, which could mean a lot of things right now. Hopefully more that just the Pre and Pixi.

• Toshiba claims that their new cell TVs can convert 2D content into 3D in real time. It may or may not look terrible.

• Samsung's LED TV line is pornographically thin.

• Panasonic showed us their dual-eyed 3D camcorder. It'll be $22,000 when it comes out in Fall. Speaking of 3D!

• More Panny news, but this definitely earns its own bullet: They've released another mega TV, this time at 152 inches—the largest ever—and with 4x by 2k resolution and 3D support. Awesome.

• Microsoft's Project Natal is coming in time for Christmas! Which is basically as far away as it could be, in 2010.

• Sony's BDP-S770 Blu-ray player Has 3D, Wi-Fi and Netflix. And you can control it with an iPhone.

• We got a hands-on with with Sony's Dash, a slick 7" internet viewer.

• Sony—they got busy this year—also released GPS and Compass enabled cameras. So your pictures will know where you are, even if you don't.

• We checked out the first 3D DirecTV broadcast, and it looked as good as any home theater 3D we've seen.

• We got the chance to flip the Motorola Backflip, the first folding Android phone. It is..interesting.

• Steve Ballmer's keynote! The moment everyone was waiting for! There was a Windows 7 HP "slate," but no Courier.

• We got our paws on Nvidia's tablet, an as-of-yet unnamed, 7" Android-running affair.

• We tried out Kodak's Waterproof Playsport pocket cam. It might be our favorite one yet.

• Sprint is really, totally, officially launching WiMax with the Sprint Overdrive hub, allowing five people to suck down some serious bandwidth.

• We saw a laptop with a transparent OLED screen. We don't know how useful that is, but it sure is futuristic.

Samsung's 3D OLED display brings us ever closer to being actually, literally paper-thin.

Thursday—Day Two


• We got a hands-on with the Skiff reader. The verdict: Kindle and Nook, get scared.

• Alienware showed off the M11X, a sub-$1000 netbook, which is about as alien to their usual line-up as you can get. We got to try it out.

• We love the slate concept from Dell (even though it sort of looks like a big iPod Touch). We got a quick look in a dark corridor. Very cloak and dagger.

• Here's how Plastic Logic's Que Reader felt to our hands: tall, slender, and blissful. The price tag, however? Not so slender.

• We were the first to get touchy feely with the Sling Touch Control 100 DVR remote.

• The Else Emblaze is a touchscreen smartphone David in a industry packed with Goliaths. But the underdog always has a shot, and there was a lot to like about the Else.

• We oohed and ahhed over Intel's double multitouch, Tweet-displaying wall. Once we picked our jaw up off the floor, we shot some video.

• The new wood-bodied Polaroid PIC-1000 might give you splinters, but it works with Polaroid 1000 Instant film.

• We got the first hands on with Skype TV and it seems like it's going to be a great way to keep in touch with your family. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you.

• The Palm Pixi Plus and Palm Pre Plus were announced! They're coming exclusively to Verizon on January 25. We tried out the Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus and found that the updates were welcome, if not as extensive as we might like.

• We got to peer through the transparent-screened Samsung IceTouch PMP and couldn't help but appreciate its utter weirdness.

• We also scoped out Samsung's C9000 Ultra-thin TV, as well as their Wi-Fi-enabled, touchscreen, video-playing remote. It was just about as cool as it sounds.

• Haier cut the wires—all of em—on a prototype wireless TV, thanks to MIT's WiTricity and WHDI wireless video. Freedom!

• There's a lot of sadness going on at CES, in many different forms, but this karaoke-singing Sisyphus was doomed to sing for eternity. Or at least all of CES.

• If you only watch one four minute recap video of CES this year, make it Joel Johnson's four minute recap video of CES.

• ioSafe burned, drowned and crushed a hard drive to show that it was tough as nails. Afterward, it worked!

• Hard drives weren't the only things that we tried to break this year at CES. Gorilla Glass showed off their unbreakable, unscratchable panels.

• We tried out the $199 Freescale tablet and thought the UI was decidedly last-gen. One insulting example: you have to flick the browser's scroll bar to move down a web site.

• The Lenovo Skylight smartbook, despite its frisbee form factor, showed some promise despite not being quite so smart, yet.

• With all these new 3D TVs being announced, everyone's rocking 3D specs. Our gallery shows that some wear them better than others.

Friday—Day Three

• The As Seen On TV Hat, as seen on TV, blocks out all that boring real life stuff going on around you so you can focus on watching video on your iPhone.

• We got a real hands on with the 5" Dell tablet, and while we're not sure why we need it, we are sure that we like it.

• Pixel Qi's transflective LCD display gives you the best of both worlds: full LCD color and E-Ink-esque readability. E-Ink should be shaking in its boots.

• We took a look at Navteq's laser-based rig for 3D mapping. Suck it, street view.

• This year, mutant camcorder rigs popped up everywhere at the convention. We put together a gallery of the most mutantest we encountered.

• We put PR people on the spot by giving them 10 seconds to shill their product in a little segment we call Justify Your Gadget .

• We checked back in with the Saddest Man at CES on video and were happy to report that morale had improved at his karaoke stage.

• Fittingly, both being things that intrigue and disturb us, Taser and Sexting are now official enemies.

• Casio's Exilim EX-FH100, a slow-mo shooting point and shoot, is improving its tech and making us happy in the process.

• The meanest thing we did at CES this year wasn't very mean. The press room didn't have enough boxed lunch, so we ordered a bunch of pizza.

We do some moaning and groaning about CES and all of misery it entails, but in the end it's still a great time to see old friends, make new ones, and, of course, check out some really exciting gadgets. Here's Brian's post on the happiest moments of CES.



Winter swimming rules at Den Haag’s beaches.

denhaag

The beach in Den Haag, Netherlands.

Most don’t think of the Netherlands‘ Den Haag (the Hague) as a beach town.  Most probably wouldn’t put the words “beach” and “the Netherlands” in the same sentence at all.  But behind the Holland Casino Scheveningen, one of Den Haag’s most famous buildings, you’ll find 11 kilometers of gorgeous beach and coastline.  And if you possess an adventurous spirit (and cold-blooded nature), you don’t have to wait until summer to indulge.

No matter what time of year you visit Den Haag, you’ll find people on the beach.  Some walk.  Some lay out when the sun pokes out its sleepy winter head.  Some just take a glance and head back into the casino to play the slots.  But many – many more than you’d ever think – swim.  Even when the weather seems much too cold to even consider the notion.

During my last trip to Den Haag, I was saddened that I had missed New Year’s Day.  A festive time of year in the Netherlands, Den Haag’s beach hosts a Polar Bear Swim event that’s quite popular.  I wanted to see with my own eyes just how many people would come out for it.  Especially since that year, it was absolutely freezing outside.  Alas, I was two weeks late and could only see the highlights on television – it looked like a great turn-out despite the weather.  But when I finally did arrive and went to walk along the coast line, I found that several people were swimming in the water just for their own sake.  Even though it was only 5 degrees Celcius outside.  And a few weren’t even wearing wetsuits.

While I don’t think I’ll be doing any winter swimming soon – at least, not without a wetsuit and a dare – and can’t necessarily endorse the activity, I do recommend getting out to Den Haag’s beautiful coastline.  If only to enjoy the gorgeous scenery and shake your head at the winter swimmers.

———-

Photo of Den Haag courtesy of soroll.

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Smartphone Touch Screen Analysis Tests Finger Fidelty [Touchscreens]

MOTO Development Labs devised a simple method of analyzing capacitive touch screens using drawing programs. They put the iPhone, the Nexus One, the Droid, and the Droid Eris through the paces and proved not all touch screens are created equal.

Using only your fingers and a drawing app, MOTO shows how you can test out the accuracy of your smartphone's touch screen. The test is simple: draw some slow, steady lines across the screen with your finger. If they're smooth and straight, your touch screen is tracking with relative accuracy. If they're wavy or jagged, your phone might not be giving your fingers the attention they deserve.

MOTO's test showed the iPhone tracking the most accurately of the four, with smooth, straight lines. The Motorola Droid fared worst of the bunch, its crossing lines tracking so jaggedly that the screen looked like a jigsaw puzzle. The Eris and the Nexus One landed somewhere in between.

If jagged lines are the symptoms of a subpar touch screen, MOTO suggests that the affliction can be any combination of too large a sensor, too low a touch-sampling rate, or too inaccurate an algorithm. [MOTO Development Labs - Thanks Sabrina]



Sun, sand and history found in Bodrum, Turkey

bodrumHistory buffs may know Bodrum as the spot where the famed city of Halicarnassos once stood.  That was home to the Mausoleum, one of the original 7 Wonders of the World, and birthplace of Herodotus, the father of History.  The Hospitallers also stood guard here for a while during medieval times and built an impressive stone fortress called the Bodrum Castle.  But these days, folks flock to this peninsula in Turkey to enjoy sun, sea and sand without the hustle and bustle you find in so many other towns along the  Mediterranean and Aegean.

For years, Bodrum was an undiscovered spot – considered to be very much off the beaten path.  It was popular for sponge diving and fishing but it wasn’t as easy to get to as some of the larger cities along the Turkish coast – and so, for a long time, it remained anonymous but to a few.  But word of mouth travels eventually – and Bodrum’s tranquility and beauty (as well as its historical significance) aren’t something visitors soon forget.  And it’s those things that keep people coming back again and again.  Today, Bodrum is a thriving coastal town with a new local airport.   Yet, it remains small and unassuming enough to allow visitors to truly kick back and relax.

Although Bodrum is largest city on the peninsula, there are villages dotting the coastline that are ready and willing to host you.  It is the perfect place to pick up a gulet, or wooden sailboat, to tour the many coves and beaches nearby or to simply walk and get into the rhythm of a small, peaceful town.

Like the other beaches along the Med and Aegean, the beaches in the area are a mix of sand and stone.  But many of the private resort beaches offer pristine white sand along the crystal blue water.  Bodrum’s location, tucked away in the nestles and coves of the Bodrum Bay, offers only lulling, gentle waves.  It’s a perfect beach destination for families with small children.  Water sports like boating, water skiing, jet skiing and kayaking are also readily available.  And with the town’s resurgence, you can find plenty of resort options, from budget to luxury, to enjoy its many offerings.  All you have to do is show up and enjoy.

———-

Photo courtesy of Kayt Sukel.

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Phosphorus: It Sounds Better On Vinyl [Turntables]

Death Calls the Tune, a project by German designers lab binaer, looks like a regular turntable, until you turn the lights off. Instead of playing "California Dreamin'," this record displays text messages in phosphorus.

Rather than producing sound, this hacked record player produces light. By covering the record platter with four bands of light-sensitive phosphorescent paint and replacing the turntable's cartridge with a LED light, the player creates beautiful bands of green that quickly spring to life and then fade away

A microcontroller determines the pulse of the LED cartridge, allowing for the display of individual letters and, in turn, the fading 50-character messages seen in the video. It's just too bad this psychedelic project's messages are so hung up on death and destruction. [Hackaday via Make]



A World Record Base Jump From the Top of a World Record Building [Burjdubai]

Base jumping, one of the world's most dangerous sports, is very cool. The Burj Khalifa AKA the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building, is also very cool. The two together? Well that's just God damn crazy.

See that little speck falling off that building? That's either Nasir Al Niyadi or Omar Al Hegelan, two extremely extreme extreme sports dudes, flying all 2,716 feet down the side of the recently-opened Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.

Head over to The Guardian for video of the amazing feat.

The video includes helmet-cam footage of the world record-setting, half-mile drop. One of the jumpers moments before taking the plunge: "You're still looking at us like we're crazy." Uh, yeah. [The Guardian via @designobserver via Fast Company]



22,000 Acer Laptops Recalled [Recalls]

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued recalls on Acer's AS3410, AS3410T, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ, and AS3810TZG laptops, all 13.3" models, due to bad internal wiring of the microphone. Apparently three incidents of short circuiting have been reported, causing the laptop's plastic cases to melt.

For more information, check out the CPSC website or contact Acer. [CPSC via SlashDot via Engadget]



The future of futurism

Over on IEET, Mark Plus comments:

I wonder if transhumanism has more legs than extropianism. A few years ago the principals at Extropy Institute said, in effect, "Poof! Extropianism doesn't exist any more." I suspect a middle-aged reality check, combined with improgression towards extropian goals in a normal life span, had something to do with the extropians' collapse of purpose. Will something similar happen to transhumanism by 2020 if we see yet another decade of drunkards' walks instead of "progress" towards transhumanist goals?

I doubt that h+ will go the same way as the extropians, rather I suspect that h+ will morph again by 2020, indeed with the changing h+ board and the breakoff of the "existential risks", "singularity" and "rationality" movements, you can already see it.

I suspect that transhumanism will undergo a significant change in favor of populism - indeed, this process has been underway for a few years now. Gone are Jupiter Brains and physical eschatology, in will be practical life extension and health tips, the right to have minor physical modifications like Oscar Pistorius' legs, and the biopolitics of popular culture. But really, this is progress: in order to appeal to millions of people, h+ has to become simple. It has to be easy to understand, practical, and something that everyone can participate in without having to put in large amounts of effort or be exceptionally intelligent.

H+ is migrating back down the future shock levels, and it seems that the drive behind this is purely organic: no-one is doing it on purpose, and I see no reason for this trend not to continue. At some point in the next few decades, we should see a point where the increasing curve of technological progress meets the decreasing curve of ambitiousness of h+ discourse: people will really be able to engage with "transhumanist" technological fixes like anti-aging therapies and simple brain-computer interfaces (better versions of the emotiv epoc) and much more immersive and high-bandwidth virtual reality. When that happens, I predict that we'll see a massive growth in popularity of the h+ memes.

This same set of comments seems to apply to the "singularity" concept: the concept originated in 1965 with I.J Good's observations about the first ultraintelligent machine. Nowadays, the casual observer might think that the word "singularity" had something to do with twitter and domestic help robots.

In all this, there is, of course, a great and subtle irony. The truth about the causal future of our time will be closer to what gets discussed at SL4 than what we see from h+ magazine. In the long run, reality will shock even those at shock level 4, and they know it. But the reality of today's futurism is determined by what the majority of people think will happen: in effect, reality is a democracy in the short run. The truth about the future has to compete for people's attention on an equal footing with every other possible form of infotainment, and in the Darwinian battle for hits, it is hardly surprising that the truth is losing out.

But, of course, there will still be a few hard-core academic futurists who push the boundary of accurate predictions about the future. The question is, will anyone listen to them?

CT manufacturing constraint

i came across in once of the catalogues tat the CT with a ratio of thermal withstand current to the rated current of CT greater than 500 cud not be manufactured.. does any one knw wat mite be t reason for it ? thanks in advance ..

What We Have Here Is One Big-Ass Telescope [Imagecache]

Not only that: a big-ass telescope that you can attach a camera to.

The Celestron CGE 1400 Aplantic Telescope is not for amateurs, unless you're an amateur with $10,000 to blow on a telescope that looks like it wouldn't fit in most single-car garages. For all you true Astrophotographers out there, the full details are available from Celestron. For those of you who'd rather just make jokes about what Adam Frucci may be looking at, I highly recommend the comments section below.



Does It Snow in Florida?

Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
I’m sure this is going to go down in the record books as one of the coldest winters on record in Florida. (I promise I’m not going to make any wise-cracks about global warming). My friend and fellow writer Kevin Mims got some video of the white fluffy rain up [...]

Obama undeterred from Golf outing by the Crotch Bomber

by Ron Hart

Another Muslim extremist, finding it hard to pick up chicks here on earth, tried his best to win the 72 virgins promised him by his religion by attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound plane. Obama was playing golf in Hawaii. For the first time in any 48-hour period since taking office, he did not appear on TV.

The heroic passengers on the plane took care of this guy, because our PC government did not. Besides, anyone willing to go to Detroit is certainly not scared of some idiot fumbling with explosives in his pants. It is as if they said, Nigerian Please!

Obama has a weak cabinet. It's almost like he got it at IKEA and assembled it himself. The Secretary of Homeland Security should be a job for a hard-nosed, ex-police chief with a nervous tick. Instead, Obama went with Janet Napolitano, a politically correct former lawyer for Anita Hill. She is a leftie Obama-nite who dresses like a small-town lesbian and calls terrorism a "man-caused disaster" — which is a better description of the Obama cabinet.

Rest assured, the "mainstream" media give you both sides of the story — Obama's and Janet Napolitano's. They came out and said, "The system worked" after the crotch bomber managed to smuggle explosives onto the plane but was too dumb to set them off. How is this not a Bush/Katrina-like "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie" moment?

I'm not some neo-con. Long ago I called for us to withdraw and just protect our borders. I do believe in a strong national defense, preferably run by someone like Dick Cheney who is mean and has that scary, faraway look in his eyes, like someone who is replaying a water-boarding interrogation in his mind. It really sends a message to our enemies when he shoots his hunting buddy in the face. I am just redneck enough to like that.

Even al-Qaida is recruiting women. Realizing that their Islamic men would have to drive them to the airport to suicide bomb a plane, they would not want 72 virgins — just one man who likes to cuddle and might actually pick up after himself.

The Obama administration is too afraid of offending any other nationality to protect us. The crotch bomber will probably get a big show trial in New York City, with Alec Baldwin and Neal Patrick Harris hosting from the red carpet. Trials where we offer terrorists their own soapboxes will be big business. I suggest that Atlanta bid for the Sheik Ali Tupac trial.

Despite its ineptitudes, the government continues to grow. The government agencies did not even communicate with each other when they had specific information. Kudos to Hillary Clinton who obtained the information from the Nigerian's father and turned it over to authorities. Lord knows Hillary is experienced with a man whose crotch could explode at inopportune times.

The TSA is too busy confiscating my bottled water to fret about a man on the terrorist who paid for his one-way ticket with cash and had no luggage. Maybe a study funded by airport concession operators determined that my $1 bottle of water purchased outside the airport is more likely to cause trouble on the plane than the $6 bottle of water they sell once I am in the concourse.

What lies at the core of the liberals' thought process is the notion that, aside from knowing what is best for poor people, they consider themselves more open minded and smarter than anyone else. Day in and day out they endeavor to prove this to anyone willing to listen who can vote, all the while putting our country at risk by imposing their self-aggrandizing, "Kumbaya" world view on us. When they test it on other countries, they call it foreign policy.

Sadly, our government, founded on liberty and tasked with "providing for the common defense," is being slowly taken down by deluded notions of political correctness while bestowing rights on our sworn enemies. It sacrifices common sense - and our safety - in doing so.

Ron Hart is a southern libertarian columnist. Contact him at RevRon10@aol.com.

Riddle Me This

UPDATE:  SOLVED!

At 1:00 pm CDT by Stuart


Yay, it’s Saturday again and I get to torment you … er … I mean entertain you with another riddle.  I’ve had a lot of fun with these riddles, as I hope have you.

Okay, you ready?  Got your “thinking caps” on?  (Remember that expression from school, circa 1965?)  As always, the subject is something with which you’re familiar, and the first to guess the answer can choose my next post topic.  I’ve had some great topics suggested, which is one of the reasons I enjoy doing these riddles so much.

On your mark… get set… COGITATE!

File:Marshalite traffic signal, Melbourne Museum.jpg
Marshalite traffic signal, Melbourne Museum  Image:  Dysprosia, all rights reserved

Generally regarded as one object composed of seven parts.

One of the seven parts is famous.

This has been well-known since antiquity.

It was completely ignored by Homer, even though it was very important to Phoenician sailors.

File:Freiheitu.jpg
Wooden sailing boat, Image:  Uwe Kils, some rights reserved

The object has a sibling, which has been known as both sister and brother.

Through mythology and popular culture, this has been well-known as six different things.

There is something very interesting and unusual about four of its members.

File:Mystery February 1934.jpg
February 1934 cover of pulp magazine Mystery

Know the answer yet?  I’ve left some very obvious clues, and a couple which are more obscure.  I have been known to leave a few red herrings laying about.  I’ll see you (so to speak) in the comment section.

Good luck!

What Is This? [Whatisthis]

Hint: It's not from an episode of I Love Toy Trains

It's actually Princeton physicists calibrating a nuclear fusion reactor with a TOY TRAIN

Ok, it's not as absurd as it sounds, according to the NY Times. In order to fine tune the neutron sensors inside the reactor, scientists at the Plasma Physics Laboratory ran the train on a circular track for three days inside the reactor, carrying a chunk of californium-252 that released neutrons as it disintegrated.

Previously, neutron calibration had been carried out with a stationary chunk of the same element, but scientists at the lab discovered calibration is 10x more accurate if the element is moving around during the reactor maintenance. The reactor is part of a larger Spherical Torus experiments, which is looking at ways to fuse hydrogen atoms at high temperatures, in a similar manner as the sun.

And for all it's troubles, the train was able to return to it's spot around the laboratory X-mas tree afterwards. But don't worry, californium-252 is hardly radioactive, so everyone was safe. [NY Times]



Texas Democrat Rep’s pisspoor attempt at Signature Forgery for Qualifying Petitions

by Eric Dondero

Libertarian groups such as the Libertarian Party, Americans for Limited Government, Sam Adams Alliance, and various statewide taxpayer groups have had to deal with enormous legal challenges and fees over the years for their petition gathering efforts. Allegations of signature fraud and illegal gathering methods have been lobbed at these groups. Naturally, the challenges have come from mostly Democrat and Democrat-allied groups.

That makes the following story especially sweet.

It's seems a Democrat State Rep. from the Dallas area, used some "creative" methods for signature gathering in order to qualify for the ballot. Texas law allows major party candidates to qualify by peition signatures - approx. 600 - or by paying a filing fee. Filing closed on Jan. 6.

Ironically, the news comes from a liberal-leaning alternative publication in the Dallas area. The Rep. has a Democrat primary opponent. And its easy to speculate that perhaps that's where the news originated.

From The Dallas Observer:

Good grief: Buzz just loves shenanigans, so it's no wonder we found ourselves roped in by claims from Eric Johnson's campaign that some of the petitions attached to state Representative Terri Hodge's ballot application didn't pass the smell test. It appeared as though Hodge, who submitted 610 signatures from registered voters (500 are required) just prior to Monday's filing deadline in lieu of paying the $750 filing fee, might have been circulating petitions with Dallas County Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons' name on them, nabbing the signatures, whiting out his name and then replacing it with hers.

"I was able to hold the petition up to the light, and by looking through it, Gary Fitzsimmons was typed under the whiteout," said Ben Setnick, one of Johnson's two campaign operatives dispatched to Dallas County Democratic Party headquarters.

No Republican or Libertarian filed for this south Dallas seat. However, Texas law does have a provision for write-in candidacies. Which could certainly be an important consideration, particularly for the GOP, if Rep. Hodges somehow manages to prevail over her primary opponent.

SA 213 TP 304L

If we use SA 213 TP-304 L grade tube up to 520 Degree C Temp for 20 Minute then what type of degradation can take place.

We have one electrical heater having a shell of SA213 TP-304L .That is design for 300 Degree C ONLY but due to some reason electrical heater did not cut off and temp of she