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They say theres no such thing as a free lunch. But on Marco Island, there might just be a free vacation home.
Thats what Jim and Lara Hicks are soon to discover after participating in a new show on cable network Home & Garden Television.
Vacation House for Free, which launched earlier this year, aims to help homeowners find and renovate a home that can then be used as their own vacation property and also to generate additional income as a rental, ideally enough to pay the mortgage on it.
The Hickses live in Ohio but had rented seasonally near Marco in the past. Jim Hicks said they wanted to visit the area again, but also wanted to find a home that complemented their lifestyle a place they could let friends use, and which would be a good fit for their family of four children.
They also wanted to act mindfully. Jim Hicks is the founder of a Thirst Relief International, a nonprofit that explores long-term, sustainable clean water solutions around the world. He and Lara also work with DoTerra essential oils. Jim Hicks describes himself and his wife as frugal people who are very conscious of the needs around the world.
It wasnt long before the Hickses found a home on Marco Island that would fit their needs, but was also in want of some updating.
We found this awesome place that needed a complete renovation, Jim Hicks recalled of his Island home.
While Jim and Lara dreamed about how to make the renovation a reality with their home-buying budget, their oldest son 12-year-old Ashton got online and started doing some research. Ashton found the HGTV Vacation House For Free online casting call and encouraged them to complete it.
At first, the Hickses dismissed it, but when they read the fine print, they realized the house they hoped to renovate was a great fit for the show. The concept of Vacation House for Free is to take a fixer-upper in a tropical United States destination and work with local renovation experts as well as the HGTV team to improve the property so it becomes not just a vacation home but also a income-generating rental.
We said, man, thats exactly how we want to do it, Jim Hicks said.
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HGTV selects Island home for new remodeling show
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BOSSIER CITY, LA (KSLA) -
A Bossier City family learned the hard way what it's like to deal with a bogus home rental after losing more than $1,000 in a property nightmare.
Husband and wife Jack and Wendy Harvill said a South Bossier City home they looked into renting ended up being a bogus deal.
"It was just nuts! You would have never figured in a million years it would have been a scam," said Jack Harvill.
It all started when the couple began a search to find a place to live for their 19-year-old son and his friend.
"Basically it was going to be hard to rent a home due to their age, so he was going to have to have mom and dad's help," Harvill said.
The couple turned to Craigslist, a classified ad website, and that's when they found what they thought was a perfect home in South Bossier City. The ad claimed rent was only $700 a month, utilities included.
"The home looked really nice, totally updated, recently remodeled," Harvill said.
The woman who claimed to be renting out the house wouldn't let them see the inside of it, but told them to look through the windows to check it out.
"It wasn't clicking to me that anything was wrong," Harvill said.
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Bossier City family falls victim to bogus Craigslist home rental ad
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More than 30 firefighters battled a mobile home fire late Tuesday night attempting to keep the blazing inferno from setting adjacent structures on fire in the 500 block of Moffat Boulevard.
A man and woman living in the mobile home got out of the structure safely without any injuries. The mobile home was in a park located just south of the Manteca High School baseball diamond.
Manteca Fire Battalion Chief Kyle Shipherd said the first of multiple 911 calls came in at 9:45 p.m. He noted visibility was near zero at the fire scene with heavy black smoke and flames coming from the side of the structure. He said strong winds were fanning the blaze that threatened to jump to other nearby residences. The smoke was blown downward and stayed near the ground, he said.
The fire was knocked down and brought under control after some 30 minutes with the help of the mutual aid agencies, he added. Once the fire was out, crews remained on the scene for three hours performing salvage and overhaul operations, he said.
Shipherd estimated the loss to the structure at $80,000 with another $25,000 loss reflected in personal property contents of the mobile home. Preliminary reports as to the cause of the fire pointed to electrical wiring under the floor of the bathroom.
Manteca firefighters were aided by Ripon Consolidated Fire District, Lathrop-Manteca Fire District, Manteca District Ambulance and the Manteca Police Department.
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Blaze destroys mobile home near MHS field
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PITTSFIELD -- Two men were held overnight after being charged with breaking into a vacant home and stealing copper pipes and wires.
Jarrod Stanton, 35, of East Street, and Steven Winters, 31, of Hawthorne Avenue, were arrested by Pittsfield police on Monday afternoon after police received a report of two men walking in the vicinity of West Union and John streets with copper wire in hand and a backpack.
When police went to the abandoned home the two had allegedly been seen leaving, authorities discovered the entire building "in disarray," according to the police report. Copper pipes and wiring from every outlet, electrical box and faucet were missing, according to police.
Police located the two men, based on a matching description, at a local scrap yard. Police interviewed Winters, who had a 12-inch pry bar on him, along with a screwdriver, flashlight and a dirty hat. Winters told police he was waiting for his friend at the scrap yard.
Stanton was stopped by police after leaving the scrap yard. He allegedly told police that he had just sold copper wire that he picked up at a previous job for $22.
Stanton and Winters were both arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Monday in front of Judge Fredric Rutberg. They pleaded not guilty to charges of breaking and entering into a building, larceny, and possession of burglary tools. Rutberg set bail at $250 on the charges pending a future court date.
To reach Nathan Mayberg: nmayberg@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6243.
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Two charged with stealing copper from vacant Pittsfield home
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HOUSTON -
A southwest Houston family is desperate for help after thieves ransacked one of their homes and started stealing some of the surveillance cameras they installed as a deterrent.
The couple owns two neighboring homes on Bellaire Boulevard near Highway 59; one home is used for storage.
"You think they're paying attention, they know when you're home and when you're not, how long you'll be gone?" asked Local 2's Robert Arnold.
"Right," said Nai Wu Lin.
"I got to work," said Dr. Chai Chin Lin.
In the home the family uses for storage thieves knocked a hole in the ceiling and ripped out the air conditioner, trying to get at copper wiring.
The family says the thieves even took the change left in their children's piggy banks. Windows were smashed and piles of trash were seen everywhere throughout the home. The thieves also appeared to take their time judging by the empty beer cans and cigarette packs found by the family.
"My husband is not a smoker, I'm not a smoker," said Lin.
The family installed surveillance cameras, but the couple said the thieves have started stealing the cameras. The couple showed Local 2 one piece of video where what appears to be a man's shadow is seen under the camera as it starts moving back and forth before the feed cuts off and the screen goes black.
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Thieves reportedly target Houston family
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SINGAPORE - More bees had been buzzing around Mr Gabriel Wong's home recently, but he was unfazed until his wife stepped on one in their home on Tuesday.
The incident prompted the F&B manager to investigate and he found a large beehive within the walls of his home, Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.
Armed with a camera with a powerful zoom lens, Mr Wong, 46, traced the bees to the air-conditioner vents outside his block of flats in Redhill.
To his surprise, the bees were flying into his air-con unit on the eighth floor - and not coming out.
He called pest control, which used pesticide and chemicals to kill the bees.
What they did not expect was the size of the swarm.
The next day, when they prised open the air-con compressor, they found a mound of dead bees and seven large honeycombs behind a wooden panel that was very near to Mr Wong's daughter's bed.
He told Wanbao that he had tried to save the bees, asking two pest control companies whether it was possible to move the hive. Both companies advised him to exterminate the bees.
Mr Wong also wrote to Stomp about the incident: "After the February drought, the rain came in March.
"All of a sudden, there is a sudden abundance of flowers blooming everywhere in our neighbourhood and the bees found themselves surrounded with a great surplus of food supply.
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That buzzing may not be a faulty air-con
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(BPT) - After a winter of frigid temperatures and record snowfalls, the nation now faces the spring thaw and long, rainy months. Flood season is officially here is your home ready for it?
Floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States. Over the past five years, the average flood insurance claim was more than $35,000, according to FEMA.gov. If you or someone you know has ever experienced a flood, you know that cleanup can require a massive effort.
The best defense against flooding is a proactive approach. Consider these flood tips to prepare your home and family for flood season:
1. Get a shop vac
Every home that is susceptible to water and moisture should have a reliable shop vac. This type of vacuum sucks up water quickly and efficiently. Keep in mind, flood cleanup must be done quickly within the first 48 hours to avoid mold growth and extensive property damage.
2. Test your sump pump
Take the time now to test your sump pump. Simply lift the float on the side of the pump and listen for the pump to turn on; that noise indicates your pump is working correctly. Next, install a water alarm that will let you know if water is accumulating in your basement. An alarm like AdvanTEXT from WAYNE Pumps sends text messages to up to three people in the event of power outages or high water levels. If you are away from home or even out of town, you can take immediate action to protect your property, rather than unknowingly coming home to a flooded basement. Visit http://www.waynepumps.com/preventflooding for more information.
3. Seal cracks
Seal the cracks in the basement floor and foundation to prevent water seepage when the water table gets too high. Similarly, if you have concrete walls, be sure to seal those cracks as well. This is a simple DIY task that can be done using a variety of affordable sealant materials available at home improvement stores.
4. Prepare and protect
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5 simple tips to prepare your home for flood season
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Sonos is testing a software update for its wireless speaker system that removes the need for a physical connection to the home network. The software would allow for the system's SonosNet network to operate with one of the speakers accessing the local Wi-Fi network, and avoiding wiring either a speaker or the Sonos Bridge wireless networking device to a router.
At the moment, the speakers create the SonosNet wireless mesh network between each other independently from a home Wi-Fi network. In order to provide an Internet connection, one of the Sonos speakers has to be connected over Ethernet, or the Sonos Bridge can be used to join the two networks together. The new system would allow for a speaker to be wirelessly connected to the home network, configured by a smartphone, with the speaker then organizing the separate SonosNet network.
While the software update would effectively remove the need for the Sonos Bridge, it could still find itself useful in some instances in the future. Sonos notes that some large homes or "challenging network environments" where the speakers will not be in range of the Wi-Fi signal, so a Bridge or a wired speaker may be required. Sonos does claim that, in its early testing, the majority of homes will "work well" with the new software.
"Wireless technology has improved over the last 10 years and alongside other investments in evolving your experience with the changing times, we are preparing to take SonosNet to the next level," reads a company blog post.
Sonos did not reveal when it will be releasing the software update, but it is accepting applications for its beta program.
By Electronista Staff
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Sonos plans software update to make speaker system completely wireless
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April 19, 2014 by
Mr HomeBuilder
In his current role, Mark Walters leverages hisover 20 years experience with electronic product solutions, high-end sound reinforcement, vehicular sensing/controls, premise wiring solutions,automated building controls,RF mesh networks, home automation and security. The Z-Wave Alliance isa consortium of over 300manufacturers and service providers worldwidewith more than 1000 certified productsthe alliance isdedicated to interoperable wireless home control products based on the Z-Wave open standard. I first talked with Mark at the internationalCESwhich ledto this podcastinterview portions of which are extracted here.
Q: Can you talk about some of your top career successes and lessons learned that you feel will be useful to the audience? A: .My background is actually in sciences, biology and chemistry and somewhere along the line I ended up in technology, and have served in a number of different roles through a number of different companies including operations, manufacturing, engineering management, general business management and now I find myself running a global consortium. I think whats worked best for me throughout my career is being very curious, asking a lot of questions and being fortunate enough to find technologies and companies that have been exciting to me..
Q: Can you describe your journey leading to your current role? A: .I started out in sciences and got interested in electronics way back in the early 80s when the Ethernet was just starting to happen. It was always very exciting to me how we could communicate across great distances with people in many different countries and so Ive always kept some element of technology and communication in my career path.I think the key for me in my career path and getting to Z-Wave Alliance and the chairmanship has been keeping that broader scope, higher level perspective and understanding how to apply that technology to the business and how to solve problems about making peoples lives better using the technology rather than focusing specifically on the technology itself.
Q: Many people in the audience may not be familiar with the Z-Wave Alliance and the challenges that led up to the formation and you being the Chairman and President. Can you comment? Also what is the value of the work from the Z-Wave Alliance? A: .I ran into this group of engineers from Denmark in a company called Zensys and as we got to know each other a little bit we realized they had a great technology. At that time there were 3 or 4 companies in the world that were looking at the technology as well. We all got together and said this is a great technology, we should use it in our products, but we need to do it in a way that we could take advantage of each others fortes. In this way, when somebody wants to do a home control solution all they have to do is buy Z-Wave and it would all work together.This sounded very simple at the time; there were 5 companies involved so we thought lets collaborate. Very quickly that began to snowball as other companies started to contact us saying that they wanted to get in on it and add their products to this particular standard of technology. We realized that we had to create some structure around that concept and we formed the Z-Wave Alliance. As the Z-Wave Alliance formed I was chosen to be the interim Chairman.Here I am some 9 years later still the interim Chairman of 6 months.
Q: What do you wish to accomplish in the next three years?A: .Three years its going to be about continuing to grow, bringing more companies into the Alliance and taking a look at how we use our technology and evolve our technology.This whole thing I was talking about aging independently thats going to become much more necessary as people begin to age. We talk a lot about the Internet of Things, and all of the things out there somehow magically talking to each other into this big thing we call cloud and that is making our lives better. I believe very strongly that we will use technology in our homes through the internet into a much bigger collective; what we are now calling cyber-physical systems to do things like reduce traffic and reduce energy consumption.
Q: What surprises you as President? A: .It continually surprises me how business wants to be sometimes (conservative would be a good word), and how afraid some people are to dream, imagine or let go of the why we cant in favour of the how about we do. This is something I get caught up in so Im guilty of this myself, but Im often surprised by very, very bright people who spend all of their energy figuring out just what can go wrong and just why they shouldnt do something and spend very little energy thinking about what happens if this goes right.There are certainly visionaries everywhere, but they seem to be fewer and farther between.
Q: What do you see as the top upcoming disruptive innovations? A: .I think two things are going to be pretty disruptive, the hydrocarbon economy and the aging population.
Q: I was just thinking about what you are trying to do with Z-Wave Alliance. Im thinking as a consumer I see kind of a spectrum confusion theres my bluetooth device, cellular phone, wireless mouse, cordless phone, router with its own WiFi, etc. how do you address all of that where maybe theres interference? A: .You go to an IEEE meeting and you figure out how we design this stuff so that it doesnt interfere with each other. We are seeing situations where some of the more popular brands are causing some interference and the technology solution is open up more bands.From the consumers standpoint, if we as technologists and technology developers do our jobs right and continue to do our jobs right, as far as the consumers are concerned they dont need to be concerned about what the underlying technology is technology done right is transparent and magic.
Q: In my interviews with many senior executives of very large companies I ask the question where they see as growth areas (in technical areas) internationally. They talk about Africa, India, China, perhaps South America and even now greater growth in the United States. Do you define these as the same top ICT growth regions internationally? A: .Absolutely.Worldwide you cant put the technology genie back in the bottle, you cant put the commerce genie back in the bottle, but barring political unrest which unfortunately we have far too much of in the world today, barring disruptions like that we are going to see amazing growth worldwide in all of these economies..
Q: What are your views on this rapid growth in free content? A: .Whats interesting is that we have a whole new set of content out there that is deliberately free the creator actually puts it out there in the public domain and says here take it for free, I dont expect any compensation back from this. I think its going to be paramount that we recognize the difference between something thats being given free by the creator and something that is being stolen and made available freely through technology.My dad used to always tell me that theres no such thing as a free lunch and I dont think there is such thing as free content. If were getting that content for free then we are circumventing some system that is important and sooner or later if everybody takes everything for free and there is no remuneration happening then the whole system will collapse and the content will cease to exist.
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By Alessandra Malito
A woman putting the final touches on her dream home, an electrician making a Saturday house call and a 4-year-old boy are the latest victims of the Washington mudslide to be formally identified.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office positively ID'd the three people Thursday as Ron deQuilettes, 52; Sandra Miller, 64, and Wyatt Ruthven, 4.
They are among the 39 victims recovered from the March 22 slide that swept through the community of Oso.
Miller, was building a new home on the banks of the Stillaguamish River with her husband, Larry, 58. The couple was putting finishing touches on the house before moving in, and deQuilettes was there to work on the home's electrical wiring.
DeQuilettes leaves behind a wife, who he met 31 years ago, and four children.
Wyatt Ruthven was among three generations of family who died in the mudslide, including his parents, Shane and Katie Ruthven, his 6-year-old brother Hunter and his grandparents Louie and JuDee Vanderburg. Each was previously identified as a victim of the slide.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office said they are still working with the families of the remaining missing.
Alessandra Malito
First published April 17 2014, 8:47 AM
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Washington Mudslide: Thirty-Nine Victims Now Identified
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