The number of child deaths related to drowning in home swimming pools is disturbing to say the least. Sometimes even a child-proof gate isn’t enough to keep unsupervised kids away from the water.

In recent years steps have been taken to augment pool security–and this is one of them.

Pool Alarm

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Tired of paper receipts clogging your wallet or purse? Is waiting for a new roll of paper to be added to the cash register slowing your shopping momentum?

TransactionTree recently released a breakthrough paperless receipt service, to help with these and other problems related to paper receipts. Through the system, retailers will now have the ability to offer the option of email receipts to their customers, rather than paper copies. Now, you won’t have to remember where you put your receipt if you want to return an item — it’s already in your inbox.

Paperless Receipts

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GPS technology will nudged aside in the years ahead, as hybrid location systems using Wi-Fi and Cell-ID take over, according to analysts ABI Research.

The high-tech consultancy estimates that assisted GPS Cell-ID and Wi-Fi-based technologies will make up a quarter of all positioning systems by 2014.

The Global Positioning System was originally developed for use by the American military and gives great results in open terrain. Indoors or in crowded cities, however, getting an accurate fix can be difficult or even impossible.

Assisted GPS and Cell-ID systems (using the position of mobile phone towers) and Wi-Fi locators like SkyHook are already filling the gaps in GPS coverage, and more technologies are coming online all the time.

Cell-ID and Wi-Fi systems to enable 25% of mobile locations by 2014

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James Bond and Dick Tracy fans are likely to queue up for this soon. The new watch-phone from LG is one of the coolest gadgets at CES 2009 show.

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President-elect Barack Obama has asked Congress to stop the shut down on analog TV broadcasts, due on February 17. The main two reasons: “Inadequate funding” and problems with the converter box program. But there’s more.

John Podesta, co-chair of the Obama-Biden transition team, requested that “the cut-off date for analog signals should be reconsidered and extended”. The letter was sent this Thursday to the chairs and ranking Republicans on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and Senate Commerce Committee.

Probably realizing that the Roman Emperors were right with their “bread and entertainment” policies, Podesta also argues that Americans can’t wake up 28 days after the inauguration “to find their analog TV’s no longer able to receive an over-the-air signal”.

Obama controls Digital TV

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