Firefighters closed the southbound lanes of Aurora Avenue North in Seattle because of a house fire in the Queen Anne neighborhood.

The fire at the home in the 2100 block of Aurora Avenue North started at 8:35 a.m. Monday.

Many of the rooms were boarded up, which made it difficult for firefighters to put out the flames.

The southbound lanes of Aurora were closed for more than an hour, backing up traffic for blocks.

Inside the home, firefighters found a grow operation of some kind with a lot of heat lamps and electrical wiring.

Seattle fire said the flames were caused by overheated electrical wiring.

No one was home at the time of the fire.

Damage to the home is estimated to be $30,000.

Want to talk about the news of the day? Watch free streaming video on the KIRO 7 mobile app and iPad app, and join us here on Facebook.

See more here:
House fire on Aurora Avenue causes traffic jam

Good morning folks, today I showed the smartest heat and cooling control technology for your home. Its from Nest.com, recently acquired by Google for its smartly designed home eco-systems.

Before we get into the Nest Learning Thermostat, which I have been trying out for the past six weeks, Albertans are now first in Canada to get a free Nest thermostat, valued at $249. Its for new subscribers only, who sign up for a five year Comfort and Control Dual plan (electricity and gas) from Direct Energy. http://www.directenergy.com/nest

The Nest Learning Thermostat can be set manually or detect an empty home in Auto Away Mode

For those who have not heard of the Nest, it is everything it claims and more. I have been using two Nests for my two furnaces on a two story home with completed basement.

The Nest Learning Thermostat goes beyond traditional thermostats which basically turn your heat on or off to required pre-set temperatures, some even smart enough to schedule many settings over a week.

Nest learns from your heating and cooling behaviour needs at home. The initial learning period after installation is one week, but it constantly learns new habits when you adjust settings along the way.

It remembers new settings you make and when. Nest has near and far sensors to detect warm body movement across the room, up to 50 feet away. It takes note if you get up every morning at 7 am and walk to the bathroom for your morning shower, or head to the kitchen for breakfast, or go to bed. You can fine tune a heating schedule too, to suit your needs.

I found for example, that if I go to bed earlier than usual, and lower the temperature early, it will indicate the temperature will stay low until 7 am, remembering my wakeup patterns. Impressive.

The experience gets better with its wireless connection on your Wifi home network. Updates happen on their own and you can use free iPhone, iPad and Android apps to monitor your home heat settings from afar. Like dropping the temperature, from your car, if you left home unexpectedly for dinner and a movie and raising it on the way home. Or turning the fan on to freshen the house air before you return.

The Nest App for iOS and Android controls last minute heating preferences away from home

Excerpt from:
Nest Learning Thermostat knows when you are away from home and when you return

Hes filled his home with so many antiques and decorations a champagne chiller from the Queen Mary, a silver bowl from the Titanic, his 20 trademark Christmas trees that hes lost count of some of it.

Like the number of porcelain rabbits that seem to keep multiplying in his third-floor apartment.

And hes hosted so many private parties and fundraisers that hes lost count of some of those, too.

But Jack Saltzman has kept records on all of the history hes collected from Lincolns most prominent people, and places.

A pair of empire couches and an 84-year-old record player Smoke Gets in Your Eyes still on the turntable from the Woods home on Sheridan Boulevard.

The chandelier from the family that opened Golds downtown department store.

A towering china cabinet from Bennett Martins home on South Street.

Silver service for 150, with a pair of serpentine-front cabinets, from the DuTeau home.

The mahogany coffee table that served as the governors desk before Frank Morrison ordered its legs sawed short.

All of the furniture from the Presidential Suite in the old Cornhusker Hotel.

Read more from the original source:
Back where it belongs: Collector sends a piece of history home

Wavetek JDSU CLI-1750 CATV Cable Meter
http://www.aaatesters.com/CLI_Series-Wavetek_JDSU_CLI-1750_CATV_Cable_Meter.html The Acterna CLI-1750, used in conjunction with the Model LST-1700 Signal Tra...

By: AAATesters.com

See the original post here:
Wavetek JDSU CLI-1750 CATV Cable Meter - Video

Print Create a hardcopy of this page Font Size: Default font size Larger font size

Posted: Friday, April 4, 2014 10:59 pm

Faulty wiring blamed for house fire in Chesterfield

CHESTERFIELD A fire started in a Chesterfield County home from a light switch with a faulty electrical wire, according to Chesterfield firefighters.

On Friday, authorities released the cause of the Thursday night fire that spread into the walls of an apartment in the 6300 block of Jefferson Davis Highway.

An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety. You need an online service to view this article in its entirety.

Or, use your linked account:

Or, use your linked account:

kAm#6D:56?ED H6C6 5:DA=2465 7C@> E96 2A2CE>6?E H96C6 E96 7:C6 H2D 7:CDE C6A@CE65 2?5 7C@> 2 ?6:893@C:?8 2A2CE>6?E E92E 2=D@ H2D 52>2865[ 244@C5:?8 E@ 4@F?EJ 7:C6 @77:4:2=D]k^Am

kAm(96? 7:C67:89E6CD C6DA@?565 2E ``i_f A]>][ D>@<6 2?5 7:C6 H6C6 G:D:3=6 7C@> @FED:56 E96 2A2CE>6?E]k^Am

More here:
Faulty wiring blamed for house fire in Chesterfield

Wireless technology is one of the most significant contributors towards widespread adoption of smart home technology, lowering the barriers and costs involved in connecting just a room or an entire home. Instead of paying for a custom install, devices can connect to each other and to home networks over WiFi, NFC or radio waves to name a few options. That means no drilling, no wiring and little technological know-how required for a homeowner to establish a smart solution.

Wireless speakers are among the most popular connected devices for the home, and theyre also some of the most beautiful. As the market matures, expected to reach $13.75 billion by 2018, companies like Philips, Sonos and Samsung are differentiating their products through design. But such differentiation tactics can be employed by startups as well.

Portland, Oregon-based BlueshiftPDX is one startup looking to pave a path to success by designing a better battery for wireless speakers. Its Helium speaker charges in only five minutes, thanks to its supercapacitor. This energy storage capability allows the speaker to charge quickly, and then play at full volume for six hours, Blueshift claims, lasting about 500,000 charge cycles.

Turning to crowdfunding, Blueshift has already exceeded its $35,000 campaign goal. Today we hear from Blueshift founder and head designer Sam Beck, who began by building bike speakers. Here Beck details the reasons his team chose CrowdSupply over Kickstarter, the importance of open source tools in startup communities, and his speaker design process.

Why CrowdSupply over Kickstarter?

Sam Beck, Blueshift founder

Theyre local, so I was able to meet with them in person, and I got a great deal of support from them. They helped with public relations and marketing more than what I wouldve been able to do on my own.

.

For Blueshift, whats the role of open source?

Its been really helpful so far, probably five or six electrical engineers have looked at the project and offered feedback. I have a couple guys helping with final round for revisions before our speaker goes out to production. Its been amazing to see how willing people are to help out.

Here is the original post:
What we did right was something different and honest. Blueshift founder on wireless speaker design

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga.

Sandy Springs police say what officers initially thought might be a meth lab behind a home, was in fact a moonshine operation.

Police told Channel 2s Mike Petchenik they were called to a home on Windsor Parkway this week after the property owner discovered the unusual setup.

There was a pressure cooker, copper wiring, said Sgt. Ron Momon.Upon further verification it was determined to be a moonshining operation.

Momon said police believe whomever was distilling the homemade cider was making about a gallon of it a week.

Its actually a felony in the state of Georgia, he said. At this point we dont have any evidence, any leads. Only thing we have is the cooking operation.

Neighbors told Petchenik that they were surprised to hear about the found firewater.

I think its fantastic, said Guy Tucker.The mountains have come down to the city and its great to blend the two.

Neighbor Jack Byrd said he was disappointed to hear police had destroyed the distillery.

No samples? he asked. The whole neighborhood could have gotten happy.

Here is the original post:
Police discover moonshine operation behind Sandy Springs home

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Yasiel Puig was scratched from the starting lineup after arriving late for the Los Angeles Dodgers' home opener on Friday.

The rest of the team was already on the field stretching before batting practice while Puig was getting dressed in the clubhouse. He had been slated to start in right field for the afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants, who beat the Dodgers 8-4.

"I'm sincerely sorry," Puig said through a translator after the game, explaining that he didn't realize stretching and batting practice would be held so early with a 1 p.m. start.

Puig said he apologized to manager Don Mattingly and his teammates, and they accepted.

"They felt it was OK when I owned up to it and apologized," he said. "I felt bad I wasn't out there playing for all the fans."

Instead, Matt Kemp replaced Puig in the lineup after manager Don Mattingly had earlier said Kemp wouldn't start. Kemp came off the disabled list on Friday after rehabilitating from left ankle and shoulder operations. He was limited to 279 games during the last two seasons because of injuries.

Puig, last year's runner-up for NL Rookie of the Year, was 5 for 20 through his first five games of the season. He wasn't used as a pinch-hitter because Mattingly said the situation didn't call for it. The Dodgers trailed 8-0 after two innings.

Mattingly downplayed Puig's mistake.

"He truly felt bad," the manager said. "You can tell by his body language; he doesn't hide things well."

Here is the original post:
Puig out, Kemp in for Dodgers home opener

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - This spring will look less leafy at 39th and Genessee streets.

Blame the need for Internet speed.

A crew, hired by Google Inc. to make way for the companys overhead fiber optic lines, transformed the neighborhood ginkgo trees into tall stumps one morning last summer.

They butchered em, just butchered em, said Ted Larkin, the owner of three buildings in the neighborhood.

Complaints would ultimately prompt the removal of what was left of the trees, replaced with saplings needing decades to produce the same shade. Those in the neighborhood notice the difference.

Technology, said Jim Svetlecic of State of the Art picture frame shop, is not painless.

Once Google Fiber fully wires Kansas City with its light-speed-to-the-home Internet network, no other American market its size will boast such broad, broad broadband.

To get there, the Google Fiber technicolor bunny is tree-trimming, jackhammering and trenching its way across the area to hoist, bury and stretch a network of fiber optic lines that zig-zags - so far - for nearly 6,000 miles.

On a given day, city officials say, about 1,000 workers for private companies scatter across the market to climb utility poles, string cables through buried conduit or lace lines into crawl spaces to stitch together Googles network.

Sometimes their work leaves beloved trees denuded. Other times, crews clip electrical, telephone, cable or natural gas lines. On occasion, people nearby have had to clear out of homes or offices when gas leaks were triggered.

Read the original post:
Wiring cities for Google Fiber not always pretty

Spring is a popular time to start renovating your home. Some projects you look forward to, but others you don't yet they still need to be done. Angie Hicks, the creator of the Angie's List website, says, "Unfortunately, there are projects that have to be done around your house that you are never going to talk to other people about like updating wiring, replacing your roof. They are not fun and exciting, but if you don't do these things it's really going to hinder the value of your home and its resale value." Here are three home projects you should never avoid. One, repairing the foundation. Get that slow-growing crack up the wall checked out before it's too late. Two, removing mold. Failure to remove it can cause health problems. Make sure to hire a remediation company that finds the source of the mold. Three, update electrical wiring. Rewiring a home or modernizing an aging electrical system is not cheap, but you'll sleep better knowing there's a decreased risk of fire. Angie's List says spending money on needed projects can be painful, especially when you don't have an emergency fund. Financial planners recommend tucking away at least $5,000 for these types of situations. If you don't have an emergency fund, start small. Have a portion of each paycheck automatically deposited into a savings account.

View original post here:
Angie's List: Must-Do Home Projects