Article By : Cabe Atwell

For those whom that is impossible, be it cost-prohibitive, unavailable to their location, affected by an outage, or any other issue, how do they gain access to information? Take a look at the top six methods of broadband delivery...

The flow of information in the world is what keeps it running. For the average household, Internet access is possible through a wired broadband connection, which also offers the fastest and most reliable service of current delivery methods. But for those whom that is impossible, be it cost-prohibitive, unavailable to their location, affected by an outage, or any other issue, how do they gain access to information? While they may not be the commercial standard, there are several other methods of broadband delivery. Take a look at the top six below, plus a method for real-time news delivery with no Internet connection.

Wireless Connectivity (LTE)

Mobile Broadband Offers Wireless Access from Our Phones.

Plenty of us have another source of connection in our pockets. With average U.S. LTE speeds at almost 14 megabits per second, mobile broadband can be a perfectly serviceable alternative to traditional broadband. There are plenty of devices on the market to convert your cell signal into a Wi-Fi hotspot, and using a data-only plan, this can be a relatively low-cost, high-speed option. You may be subject to data caps and limited battery life with this method. Still, for the purposes of web browsing, social media, and email access, your cell will undoubtedly do the trick, as long as your location offers reliable LTE service.

Satellite Broadband

Satellite delivery can be an excellent option for areas where connections such as cable or phone lines simply arent readily available. The signal is transmitted using three satellite dishes one in space, one at the service providers hub, and one on your property. Traditionally, this method has been a last-resort service for rural areas. Satellite Internet has always had issues: high latency, limited broadband capacity, and signal disruptions due to weather or minor obstructions to your dish. However, in an effort to better reach these unserved or underserved areas, many companies are working to install low-altitude satellites, called Low Earth Orbits or LEOs, which could come to provide service to the entire planet.

FTTx

Fiber-Optic Technology Offers Reliable High-Speed Service.

Fiber-optic technology has been gaining traction in the U.S. for some time now, touted as the fastest and most reliable connection available. The service functions using wires made of transparent glass fibers as small as the diameter of a human hair, which transport data in the form of light signals. Unlike the copper wiring used for cable connections, these wires are not easily disrupted by environmental conditions. While the speeds enable rapid download and the service is incredibly reliable, fiber to the home is not yet widely accessible as it requires new infrastructure for delivery. Its also not clear fiber to the home is absolutely necessary to get blazing-fast broadband; if a broadband provider can get fiber close to a customers home, coaxial cable continues to be a great way to close the gap and support gigabit transmission rates.

Fixed Wireless (5G)

Fixed Wireless Connects Remote Areas Via Radio Waves.

Another wireless method delivers broadband to you via radio waves. Fixed wireless Internet uses an antenna on your property to communicate with nearby towers to send data onto a wired network. This comes with several difficulties. Often fixed wireless is more expensive than a purely wired connection, requires additional equipment and installation, and may encounter issues without line-of-sight on the tower. The pros, however, are that fixed wireless has no data cap and doesnt suffer from the high latency issues of satellite. Deployment areas are limited, as it is most useful when building a wired network to individual homes isnt cost-effective in rural and remote areas.

Broadband Over Powerline

Power Lines Provide Internet Access with Existing Infrastructure.

Broadband over power line (BPL) provides Internet access via ordinary power lines so, in theory, any location not served by conventional delivery methods but connected to a power grid can be given access. BPL uses radio-spectrum frequencies transmitted over the same lines as electrical signals to transmit data at speeds equivalent to cable or DSL. Power line communication (PLC) is not entirely new; BPL can be traced back to technologies developed by AT&T as early as 1914, and electricity companies have been bundling radio frequency and electrical current on the same line for years to monitor their own power grids. These radio signals are received by a modem-like BPL device that plugs into an outlet and sends the signal to your device. Deployment attempts have so far been plagued with issues, however, with trials stymied by limited reach and low bandwidth.

Balloons

Broadband Via Balloon Delivers Internet Connectivity to Remote Areas Worldwide.

Devices relaying signals while attached to balloons serve to extend connectivity to areas of the world without Internet access. The initiative began as a research project by Google X called Loon, which partners with global mobile network operators to expand their LTE service reaching places that lack coverage, supplementing existing networks, and providing coverage following natural disasters. In 2018, Loon became a separate company that continues to provide an aerial wireless network to areas without conventional access. Their balloons, maneuvered by adjusting their altitude to a wind layer with the desired speed and direction, use patch antennas to transmit signals to ground stations or LTE users. In 2019, they announced their fleet had reached one million hours of flight, all while delivering Internet access to unserved and underserved areas.

The Fallback Project

The Fallback Project Serves as an Information Access Alternative.

When there is no possibility of an Internet connection, one project seeks to offer continued real-time access to information. Developed to aid those with restricted communications due to Internet shutdowns by authoritarian regimes, The Fallback Project provides an alternative web platform that transmits encrypted data from sources preselected by a user to their Portal device via satellite. The Portal offers a hotspot to transmit data to any Wi-Fi enabled device on which news can then be browsed with a text-based UI. Since no data is stored locally, the setup maintains anonymity for the user. The project seeks to maintain the normalcy of information access during the most extreme circumstances, using forecasting algorithms to predict Internet shutdowns and providing backup right when its needed.

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6 Alternatives to Get Broadband - EE Times India

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technavio has been monitoring the automotive wiring harness market and it is poised to grow by USD 10.7 mn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 4% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment.

The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. LEONI AG, Nexans SA, Samvardhana Motherson Group, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and Yazaki Corp. are some of the major market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

Increasing use of advanced materials for wire harnesses has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. Request a free sample report

Automotive Wiring Harness Market 2020-2024: Segmentation

Automotive Wiring Harness Market is segmented as below:

Application

Vehicle Type

Geographic Segmentation

To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR40233

Automotive Wiring Harness Market 2020-2024: Scope

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our automotive wiring harness market report covers the following areas:

This study identifies advances in autonomous vehicles as one of the prime reasons driving the automotive wiring harness market growth during the next few years.

Automotive Wiring Harness Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the automotive wiring harness market, including some of the vendors such as LEONI AG, Nexans SA, Samvardhana Motherson Group, Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and Yazaki Corp. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the automotive wiring harness market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

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Automotive Wiring Harness Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights

Table of Content

PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT

PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE

PART 04: MARKET SIZING

PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION

PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE

PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE

PART 09: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY VEHICLE TYPE

PART 10: DECISION FRAMEWORK

PART 11: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

PART 12: MARKET TRENDS

PART 13: VENDOR LANDSCAPE

PART 14: VENDOR ANALYSIS

PART 15: APPENDIX

PART 16: EXPLORE TECHNAVIO

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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavios report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavios comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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Automotive Wiring Harness Market 2020-2024 | Increasing Use of Advanced Materials for Wire Harnesses to Boost Growth | Technavio - Business Wire

NEWBURYPORT A faulty electrical outlet was identified as the cause of a one-alarm fire Tuesdayaround 11 a.m. that threatened to destroy an early 19th century home at 71 Washington St.

Newburyport Fire Chief Christopher LeClaire said the fire was quickly spotted by the homeowner who called for help. If no one had been home atthe 1820 house the fire could have easily destroyed it.

"It could have been a lot worse," LeClaire said.

Local firefighters, along with Salisbury and Amesbury firefighters, made quick work of the fire which had spread from the outlet, located in the rear of an upper floor, into the wall.

As firefighters cleaned up the fire site, the city's electrical inspectorexamined the wiring in the house.

Thetwo-family houseis across the street from Cushing Park and was last assessed at $772,600, according to the city's online assessors database.

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Fire threatens 19th century Newburyport home - The Daily News of Newburyport

As technology continually improves the world we live in, its only natural that it can do the same for your business. While this is a relevant point for any company, its particularly applicable if you run a home inspection business.

In fact, advances in recent years have seriously changed the way home inspectors operate. From the way inspections are carried out to the way a home inspection report is shared with others, technology has changed the game.

In that regard, are you feeling left behind with your home inspection business? Dont worry. The following article will detail the technology you should be adopting for your company. Once the tech is in place, you will notice a significant increase in productivity alongside a reduction in long-term costs. Its a win-win.

If you have been running a home inspection business for some time, you will already possess a number of tools. After all, inspecting a home requires certain equipment that can detect issues the human eye cannot spot.

As for what this standard equipment package comprises, it features the following:

If, for whatever reason, you are missing one of these pieces of equipment from your arsenal, stop reading this, jump on eBay, and buy it right away.

Due to the price of standard thermal imaging equipment, this type of technology can usually be out of range for home inspectors. However, thermal experts FLIR has developed a cost-effective camera that attaches to smartphones. With this device, you can easily inspect a property for any problems that would otherwise be invisible.

What type of problems can it detect? Well thermography utilizes special color patterns that can identify cold, warm, and hot spots of a property. Due to this, it can indicate if a home is suffering from water damage in the basement, air leaks around doors and windows, and insufficient attic insulation. Thats just the start of why thermal imaging is an excellent tool for home inspectors.

Thats right: drones are more than just a fun toy to play with as a hobby. In the home inspection world, they provide efficiency and security.

Admittedly, they dont directly help in terms of security. However, a drone with an attached camera allows you to easily inspect a homes rooftop. No longer is it necessary to climb up a ladder and risk walking on a roof to check for any existing defects.

Remember the previous point about thermal imaging? Well if you mount a specialist thermal imaging camera to a drone, this will supply a clearer picture as to whether the roof is suffering from air leaks or insulation issues.

Technology doesnt just need to have a practical part to play during the home inspection. In fact, specialist home inspection software can greatly increase the overall quality of your business.

Due to the time-saving tools offered via this software, your business can instantly benefit from greater efficiency and reduced expenses. As well as automating certain tasks and streamlining others, the software also helps to reduce human error. This, again, helps to boost efficiency levels.

Of course, home inspection software has a lot more under the hood too much to list in this small section, in fact. It can assist with scheduling, management, communication, storing information, business reporting, and more.

In any business, you have to move with the times. If you sit around with what you have for too long, the competition will soon pass you by. This logic applies when it comes to the technology you utilize in your business.

However, its more than simply a case of implementing technology to stay ahead of the competition. This tech can also massively improve all aspects of your business.

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How Technology Can Improve Your Home Inspection Business - The Apopka Voice

Lisa Harrison Rivas, Staff writer

What to expect from a home inspection

For most of us, buying a house is the biggest investment well ever make. People often spend months searching for their dream home. But before the packing starts, its a good idea to call a home inspector.

Heres what you can expect from a home inspection.

An inspection is done after a house is under contract, meaning a signed offer has been accepted. If you are working with a real estate agent, he or she can provide a list of licensed inspectors. Lenders require houses be inspected for structural defects and pests, such as termites and carpenter ants. All lenders require a Wood Destroying Insect Report on pre-existing homes before funds will be advanced for the sale. The report will state if the house has an infestation or damage from a previous infestation and if the house has been previously treated for termites. Sheds can be a haven for termites, so they also should be inspected. Keep in mind, the Wood Destroying Insect Report must be done within 30 days of closing the sale on the house, so its a good idea to have this inspection done last in case the closing is delayed.

RELATED:Renovating your old farmhouse: a journey worth taking

After the structure of the house is examined, the inspector will issue a report on the roof, foundation, heating and cooling system, electrical system, plumbing and other visible defects. Common issues inspectors find include damage from moisture, aging roofs, heating/cooling problems and improperly installed insulation. Cracked or shifting foundations are common in South Texas. In older homes, especially in rural areas, the wiring can be a problem. Inspectors will check to see if the house has sufficient electrical capacity needed to power newer appliances safely.

Once the inspector finishes the report, decisions will be made about which items need to be addressed before moving forward with the sale of the house. The buyers agent will send repair requests to the sellers agent, and both parties will sign off on which items will be repaired. The long summers in South Texas mean air conditioning systems are running most of the year, so potential homebuyers generally want sellers to pay a licensed technician to do routine maintenance on the heating and cooling system before closing on the house. Inspectors say a lot of the problems they see are caused by unlicensed Mr. Fix-its.

If youre the seller, make sure to keep all receipts for completed repairs. And if youre the buyer, make sure you ask to see them during the final walk-through. The buyer, unless he or she is financing with a VA loan, usually pays for both the general structural inspection and theWood Destroying Insect Report, but like anything, this is negotiable. The cost varies depending on the size of the house, but expect to spend from $300 to $500 for the structural report. Again, depending on the square footage of the house and whether the foundation is a slab or pier and beam, a Wood Destroying Insect Report can cost between $75 and $200.

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What to expect from a home inspection - Shelton Herald

Age of AutomationThe design trend known broadly as home automation comes in many forms, from a command to Amazons Alexa to turn off the lights to a smartphone app that controls door locks and room temperature and a dozen other functions from across the country. This technology is attractive, says one local expert, because it solves problems in a very individualized way and people like technology that makes their lives easier.

When people think of home automation, what comes to mind? Heat controls and security cameras, for sure. Maybe the TV and music, or door locks, or window blinds.

Bill Laplante also thinks of his shower.

I have a digital control panel in my shower, said the president of Laplante Construction in East Longmeadow, noting that he inputs a user profile that gives him the exact temperature and flow he wants. My wife has a different profile, so hers is four or five degrees cooler, and a different shower head. A lot of this stuff is pretty cool.

Its stuff thats becoming more common in the modern home, as the rise of whats known as the Internet of things has people connecting any number of household functions to the Internet and controlling them from smartphone apps.

Take lighting systems. We changed our bulbs, and now the lights are controlled by cell phone, Laplante told BusinessWest. Ive gotten pretty lazy with the technology instead of getting up to turn on the lights, I just grab my phone.

But hes not just enjoying smart-home technology at his own house; hes building homes for customers who increasingly demand such features themselves. He works with EPOS Systems in West Springfield a company whose motto is Your future home. Today. on whole-home automation systems that run off one app, known as Control4. But people can take an a la carte approach as well.

Bill Laplante says homeowners have many options when it comes to automation, but many today are opting for full-home systems that run off a single app.

I see a combination of both. Some people, usually in the higher-end homes, will want a whole-house smarthome system thats controlled by one app and can do multiple things with lighting, television, heat, cameras, all of that stored on one app, he explained. And then there are other people who want less expensive options, who have multiple apps that do different things, but its not necessarily controlled by one central program.

The uses for such a system are myriad.

When youre away for vacation and you forgot to turn your heat down, you can do it remotely. Even the door locks you can send a code from your phone to unlock the door for someone cleaning the house or someone coming over to watch your kids, Laplante said. Control4 is really a home-management system, a technology-management system. You can create lighting scenes, you can control television, music, security, garage-door cameras virtually everything that could link together, you can link through this central system.

The popularity of so-called smart homes is only expected to increase as more people experience it and costs continue to drop. According to Forbes, the value of the smart-home device market will grow from $55 billion in 2016 to $174 billion by 2025.

Dan Crouss says home automation is about solving problems and quality of life.

Dan Crouss, owner of EPOS, said homeowners have many points of entry to choose from.

Sometimes you start out small, but then we tie in the music and the TVs and all that stuff into one app. You kind of piecemeal it as you go start small and work your way up over the years. Some people do it all at once when they build their house, but usually its small increments.

And its not as foreign a concept as some people may think, he added.

Everyones got some type of automation from their phone, even if its just Siri or Alexa controlling the lights. What we do is take it a step further, put it into one app instead of having 15 apps. Everybodys got a little bit, but were able to tie it all into one interface.

EPOS was launched in 2007, the merger between two companies, Perfect Sound and Olympic Electric. Its services have evolved considerably since then, both because technology is always advancing and because people are attracted to products that make their lives easier, Crouss said.

Home automation can start out as a simple Alexa that turns on lights. Then door locks and heat are two things people usually do. Being able to unlock your door for somebody when youre not home is a big deal. And with heat, I can save a lot of money. I get home at random times because of my job, so, if Im getting home at 5:30, I can log on at 4 and pump up the heat a little bit, so when I get home, its nice and warm, but I saved a lot of money during the day.

Then homeowners may add options from there, he added, from window shades which can be adjusted or programmed to bring some extra sunlight into the house during the winter or keep it darker and cooler in the summer to strategically placed cameras, both for outdoor security and to monitor the interior of a home when residents are away for the winter.

Sometimes you start out small, but then we tie in the music and the TVs and all that stuff into one app. You kind of piecemeal it as you go start small and work your way up over the years. Some people do it all at once when they build their house, but usually its small increments.

You can get a notification on your phone if you have movement at the front door, Laplante said. And you can pull up the camera view and pull up the audio and say, can I help you? and do it all remotely. You can be on vacation and youre answering your door, essentially. There are all types of things like that that are pretty cool, and most manufacturers now are incorporating things like this into their own apps and making everything as seamless as possible.

As he noted earlier, many people opt for buying individual devices, such as one that manages the garage door.

When your car pulls into the driveway, it will automatically open the garage door rather than actually pushing a button. You can also let somebody in your garage door remotely with your app. So you have individual products like this, with their own apps, which create the, quote-unquote, smart home, or you can have a central control system that controls all of the various components of the house.

The whole-house system can be preset for any number of situations, from delivering the exact heating and lighting arrangement upon waking up in the morning to creating a variety of lighting scenes in the kitchen, such as for cooking, dining, or hosting a party or telling the Christmas tree when to turn on and off every day.

Basically, what home automation does is solve peoples problems, and everybodys got different ones to solve, Crouss said. When my kids were growing up, theyd get off the bus and would put in their [front door] code, and I would get a text to let me know my daughter was off the bus. Or lets say cleaners come to your house, who bill by the hour. Theres a time stamp when they put in the code and a time stamp when they lock the door.

As another example, people with oil tanks have smart sensors that automatically e-mail you when the tank is getting low, or e-mail people who deliver the oil. A lot of people with vacation homes show up, and the oil is way down. This is a way to avoid that problem.

In Forbes, Bernard Marr, a futurist, author, and business and technology advisor, recently noted a few developments on the horizon when it comes to smart homes. One is increasing standardization, as manufacturers of smart-home devices are increasingly ensuring their products and services will work on platforms provided by Amazon, Google, Samsung, and Apple to capture the broadest customer base.

He also sees smart homes actually becoming smarter over time as they make use of machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and other technologies that are capable of making decisions and learning. Smart thermostat systems from Nest and Honeywell already use machine learning to adapt their behavior to the inhabitants of a house, based on observing and then replicating their habits, and that trend should accelerate to other devices as well.

Finally, the global rollout of 5G, as well as improved wi-fi technology, mean smart-home devices will be linked by faster, more powerful networks, meaning better access to data and processing resources in the cloud.

The smart-home technology has come way, way down in price, Laplante said, especially when it comes to buying multiple devices. The Control4 system is nice because everything runs through one app. But people have multiple apps on their phones for multiple things anyway.

There are many different components, he added. The cost depends on how much you bring into the system. The big advantage to having a one-hub system is that everything runs through that system, so youre going to one app.

EPOS continues to introduce new services, Crouss said, like smart outlets that can reboot cable or Internet if it goes down, rather than having to deal with physical plugs and wires. In fact, those devices can now send a signal on their own and be rebooted automatically when a problem is detected.

Most of my customers want this technology, want to be able to do those things, Laplante said. Especially when youre going away, you want to be able to control things, you want to keep an eye on the house. If you go away for the winter, you want to be in contact with your home, to monitor the temperature and see if there are any issues.

Not to mention that much of this technology whether its changing the music coming out of the ceiling speakers or stepping into a perfect shower is just, well, fun.

Its something the average person today is expecting especially the younger generations, he said. They grew up with technology, and they expect it. And it is kind of neat.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [emailprotected]

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Smart-home Technology Puts Homeowners in Full Control Wherever They Are - Business West

BRYAN, Tex. (KBTX)- The driver of a pickup truck left behind a trail of damage early Saturday morning in a north Bryan neighborhood, according to police.

Officers arrested 25-year-old Adam Alvaro Garcia of Bryan.

Just after midnight police were notified that Garcia drove his pickup truck into a house in the 2300 block of N. Earl Rudder Freeway Frontage Road.

Investigators determined Garcia first jumped a curb on Timberline Court, went through the front yard of a home, struck a wooden fence, then struck a trampoline, and hit a second wooden fence.

He then drove into a chain-link backyard fence on a neighboring property on N. Earl Rudder Freeway and collided with the house.

The truck went into the home of a 72-year-old woman's bedroom. She told police she had just gotten up to go to the restroom when the collision occurred.

Police said the damage caused bricks, lumber, wires, cable, sheetrock, and furniture to fly into her home. Furniture and sheetrock landed on her bed where she had been laying just seconds prior to the crash.

The entire back wall of the home was destroyed. An electrical box and water line were also broken. Police said water was coming from the ground under the pickup truck and it began to flood the other side of the duplex next to where the pickup hit.

As police were investigating this, they received another call from a woman who said she saw Garcia strike her parked vehicle on Woodville Road.

One witness said he saw the pickup truck speeding before the crash into the house.

According to the arrest report, the witness and police both detected the odor of alcohol coming from Garcia's breath.

The Bryan Fire Department condemned the home that was hit due to structural damage caused by the pickup truck.

Garcia was taken first to a hospital to be checked out for his injuries. There at the hospital, he told police he consumed several beers before the crash. He also said his brakes on his truck may have malfunctioned.

The suspect was then booked into the Brazos County Detention Center on Saturday morning. His bonds are set at $6,000. He's charged with Deadly Conduct, Driving While Intoxicated, and Criminal Mischief.

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Man arrested after driving into home, parked car, fences, and trampoline in Bryan - KBTX

Issued on: 03/03/2020 - 08:19

San Francisco (AFP)

Twitter staff across the world were asked to work from home starting Monday in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus epidemic.

The outbreak has spread across the world since emerging in central China late last year, killing more than 3,100 people, infecting over 90,000, and prompting a wave of travel restrictions.

The social media platform's decision to ask its staff to avoid the office follows similar requests by governments in virus hotspots.

"We are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they're able," Twitter human resources chief Jennifer Christie said in a Monday blog post.

"Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us -- and the world around us."

Working from home will be mandatory for employees at the company's South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan offices, Christie said.

South Korea has recorded nearly 5,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections -- the largest number outside mainland China -- along with 28 deaths. More than half of the cases have been linked to the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive religious group often described as a cult.

Japan's government has urged the closure of schools nationwide and employers to give their staff permission to work remotely.

Most civil servants in Hong Kong returned to work on Monday after they were asked to work from home for a month. The financial hub has recorded 100 cases of the infection.

Twitter had already announced the suspension of "non-critical" business travel and events last week.

2020 AFP

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Twitter staff told to work from home over virus fears - RFI

Photo: Manuel Sulzer, Getty Images

Fire reported in Ansonia home where shooting took place

ANSONIA A Myrtle Avenue home where a fatal shooting occurred was the focus of police and fire presence Thursday after fire broke out in the basement.

Firefighters quickly extinguished a dryer vent blaze that had filled the lower level of 81 Myrtle Avenue with smoke.

The home was the same site where Michael Griffin was shot dead by police in early January. The State Police and Danbury States Attorney Stephen Sedensky are investigating that incident.

This time, nearly 25 firefighters and five pieces of equipment responded to the home shortly before 2 p.m. Thursday.

The maintenance man came running to one of our vehicles which was nearby dealing with electrical lines down, said Fire Chief Michael Eheman. He said he had emptied several fire extinguishers trying to put the fire out.

So a call for additional help was put out.

We got it out in 10 or 15 minutes, Eheman said. There was so much wind we didnt even need fans to clear the smoke from the basement.

The fire chief said the first floor clothes dryer vented into the basement. He called the damage very, very minimal.

Firefighters were nearby because a a tree limb had fallen and knocked down utility wires near the intersection of Orchard Street and Myrtle Avenue. United Illuminating crews were at that site restringing the wires.

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Fire reported in Ansonia home where shooting took place - CTPost

Q: I have a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD Diesel. My problem is that the heated seat on the drivers side comes on with no demand. I removed the door panel and disconnected the plug at the switches. The seat is eliminated from heating, but the rear back cushion heats up, sometimes intermittently. Which wire do I disconnect under the seat to eliminate this?

Ted

A: I dont get a chance very often to help someone try to make something stop working!

Your Silverado seat heaters are a fairly complicated system; seat cushion and/or back heat request switches tell the drivers door module to move on this. After communicating with the powertrain control module to be sure the engine is running, the door module sends a class 2 serial data message to the drivers seat module, which controls the heaters by supplying both power and ground. Thermistor sensors within the seat cushions provide feedback so the proper heating level can be maintained.

Without detailed testing, its difficult to imagine how the seats are mistakenly being heated. A pro grade scan tool can be used to observe inputs and outputs of both the door and seat modules, which would narrow the suspect list considerably.

A surefire way to cease operation of the drivers side heaters only is raise the seat fully for access and unplug connector #325, which is located roughly centered, two-thirds of the way back, beneath the seat cushion. This connector contains six wires; hopefully, the wire count will help differentiate it from the three other connectors somewhat nearby. The purple wire within this wire group provides ground for the seat back. Could it be chaffing on nearby metal?

Q: Your headlight lens article got me thinking. I have an older car with good quality halogen glass headlights and they could always be brighter too. What do you think of a relay kit? Do these really help with brightness?

Sid

A: Vehicles with the older/traditional sealed beam headlights can often suffer from voltage drop in the headlight circuit, due to skimpy wiring diameter, dirty contacts in the headlight and beam select switches, as well as in line connectors. Lets say your system voltage is 14.6 volts (engine running); you might find only 12.5-13 volts are actually making it to the headlights, resulting in slight to moderate dimming.

A relay kit, or a carefully home crafted equivalent, uses the original headlight circuits to energize a relay, which delivers a shorter/more robust circuit directly from the battery to power the lamps. Done right, fuse protected, wiring carefully routed and with good connections, this can reduce the voltage drop between the battery and headlights to perhaps 0.2 to 0.4 volts (14.2 now delivered). This can bring up brightness by perhaps 15% to 20%.

Is it worth the trouble and expense? Some think so, particularly if their original circuit is suffering worse than mentioned.

Im receiving some great feedback regarding home remedies for clouded headlight lenses. Ill follow up soon with these recommendations!

See the original post:
Under the Hood: Truck's seat cushions heat up unbidden - Greater Milwaukee Today