Sound
Bang & Olufsen Beolab 17 £2,590 per set
Bang & Olufsen have launched
their first compact wireless speaker,
BeoLab 17. The all-digital, active
speaker – the first in the world to utilize
the new WiSA standard for high-end
wireless – combines stunning acoustic
performance, place-anywhere flexibility
and innovative design.
BeoLab 17 sounds far more refined than
speakers twice its size and will look great
wherever you put it. Available from your
nearest B&O store.
Web
noradsanta.org
NORAD Tracks Santa is a website that you can use
to track Father Christmas as he delivers gifts to all
the good little boys and girls across the world.
Gadget
Touchscreen Coffee Table - $7,000
(approx £4,383)
This wooden coffee table incorporates a fully functional Windows
8 computer with a 32” touch screen. With a 178° viewing angle,
it is ideal for viewing enlarged photos or maps, playing with an
interactive Koi pond, or allowing multiple users to comfortably view
the same data from the sofa.
The table is topped with an anti-glare LCD screen that functions
like a tablet computer. The screen’s six touch points allow for easy
navigation whilst its 1366 x 768 resolution provides a sharp image
in any ambient lighting condition. The tempered-glass surface can
take your coffee mug and its IP34 water rating makes it safe for
everyday splashes and spills.
The tablet has an Intel Core i5 3.2 GHz processor, 6 GB of
memory, 500 GB hard drive, and is Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled.
It comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse but at this price I
would hope so. Available from www.hammacher.com
The program began on December 24, 1955, when a
Sears department store placed an advertisement in
a Colorado Springs newspaper which told children
that they could telephone Santa Claus and included
a number for them to call. However, the telephone
number printed was incorrect and calls instead
came through to Colorado Springs’ Continental
Air Defense Command (CONAD) Centre. Colonel
Shoup, who was on duty that night, told his staff to
give all children that called in a “current location”
for Santa Claus. This tradition continued when the
North American Aerospace Defense Command
(NORAD) replaced CONAD in 1958.
Today, NORAD relies on volunteers to make the
program possible. Each volunteer handles about
forty telephone calls per hour, and the team
typically handles more than 12,000 e-mails and
more than 70,000 telephone calls from more than
two hundred countries and territories. Most of these
contacts happen during the twenty-four hours from
2 a.m. on December 24. Google Analytics has been
in use since December 2007 to analyse traffic at
the NORAD Tracks Santa website. As a result of
this analysis information, the program can project
and scale volunteer staffing, telephone equipment,
and computer equipment needs for Christmas Eve.
Volunteers still include NORAD military and civilian
personnel.
The site is great fun and includes CGI videos of
Santa as he passes famous landmarks.
Festive fun for little kids….. and big ones too.
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