At CES 2017 in Las Vegas this week, technologists and marketers are showing off products claiming to solve problems and make our lives easier.
The annual conference draws over 170,000 people to the desert, promising innovation and promoting The Next Big Thing. But each year, the conference seems more underwhelming — and 2017 is no different.
Unveiled, the CES 2017 kick-off event for press, was a lackluster hodgepodge of items that begged the question: «Do we really need this? »
Some gadgets were mildly entertaining or upgrades to existing hardware, but collectively, stuff existed for stuff’s sake.
Related: Faraday Future unveils slick car amid turmoil
CNN roamed Mandalay Bay’s convention cente r halls to search for the most perplexing tech. Here’s what we found.
Kérastase Hair Coach
The Kérastase Hair Coach is a gadget for goldilocks. Powered by smart tech company Withings, the hairbrush connects to an app and is supposed to «improve hair health over time. » This means you can learn to «understand and improve brushing patterns» via a microphone that listens to your hair as it’s brushed, sensors, and a corresponding app that tells you how damaged or dry your hair is.
The brush is just a prototype, so I was unable to figure out just how tangled my hair was.
LoveBox
If you miss the way texts from flip phones looked, you can pay over $100 for this modern day message in a bottle. Made from beech wood with a mirrored digital screen inside, the LoveBox displays messages that are sent through the compatible app. If the box has unread messages inside, a heart outside the box spins.
It costs $120 and begins shipping in the U. S. in June.
Catspad
Billing itself as «your smart pet assistant,» Catspad is an automated bowl that distributes filtered water and food.
Two bowls automatically fill with food and water when you tell them to, and you can monitor and schedule your cat’s meals on a smartphone app. It’s launching on Kickstarter later this week for $199. It failed to raise its funding goal on Indiegogo last year.
(Dogs can use it, too, we checked.)
42tea smart cube
Certain types of tea are best brewed at different temperatures. Tea aficionados would be able to tell you that black tea requires hotter water than green or white ones. This cube from 42tea can tell you that, too.
Select your tea on the 42tea app and then place the cube in hot water. The app will alert you when it’s the right temperature to brew the selected tea. The company also makes teas — 12 or 13 of them, the spokesman wasn’t sure. The goal is to eventually make 42.
The company plans to sell the cube for $55 later this year.
Smarter FridgeCam
Smarter thinks you’ll spend $150 on a camera for your fridge instead of thousands of dollars on an internet-connected «smart fridge. » Smarter’s FridgeCam sits inside the refrigerator and takes a photo of the contents before it closes, capturing that half full carton of milk or the Tabasco that you should have thrown out yesterday. You can view the photos on a compatible app to jog your memory when you’re out grocery shopping.
However, the camera only captures what’s in front of it, so you don’t get a full picture of the fridge’s contents. In order to view what’s inside the fridge door, you have to buy a second one.
The company says the app will also provide recipe recommendations based on what’s in your fridge.

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© Source: http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/04/technology/ces-2017-weird-tech-unveiled/index.html
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You might fairly ask if I’d have given four stars to “Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds” if this iconic mother-daughter team hadn’t died within a day of one another last week.
You might fairly ask if HBO moved up the release of Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens’ documentary to Jan. 7 to maximize viewer interest.
I can’t speak for HBO execs’ motives. Given their channel’s enormous financial success and given their track record for respecting artistry, and knowing it’s not as if an earlier release date for a documentary would make THAT much of a difference to their profit margin, I prefer to believe they’re sharing this amazing, wonderful, funny, fascinating, insightful film now because now is the time.
As for MY reaction to the film…
I watched it mere days after we lost Carrie and Debbie. It would be disingenuous and insulting for me to say I wasn’t thinking about that as I experienced the film.
But that’s not why I’m giving it four stars. That’s not why I’m telling you it’s one of the best buddy comedies I’ve seen in years. That’s not why I’m saying it’s a beautifully filmed, whip-smart, perfectly edited love letter to a legendary mother-daughter duo that respects and honors their relationship without sugarcoating their troubled and checkered history.
I’m saying all that because all that is all that.
Debbie Reynolds holds her new baby, Carrie Fisher, in an archival family photo seen in “Bright Lights.” | HBO
The first five minutes of “Bright Lights” set the tone and let us know this is something special. As we see home movies of an impossibly young and unbearably adorable Debbie Reynolds with her two young children, Carrie and Debbie argue with one another, and Carrie challenges her mother: “Who gets what in the will?”
Cut to footage from the recent past. Carrie is in her late 50s; Debbie is in her 80s. They live in neighboring houses on a compound built by the actor Robert Armstrong, who in the 1933 version of “King Kong” famously said, “Twas beauty killed the beast.”
As they say: You cannot make this s— up.
Carrie tells us she wishes her mother would retire, but standing in front of her mom’s wishes is like “standing in front of a — what are those called? — not tiramisu. Tsunami. She’s Tsu-Mommy.”
We bounce back and forth between Carrie’s home, which includes such features as a “Star Wars” sculpture intended as a sexual device, to Debbie’s home, which looks exactly like a legendary movie star’s home: a little bit amazing, a little bit sad.
“This is the bathroom,” says Carrie as she gives a tour of her mother’s home. “It has, as a lot of bathrooms should, a player piano.”
Debbie fumbles with a story. Carrie says, “That’s one of the great things about losing your memory — so many surprises.”
But there’s no trace of meanness or bitterness in their dynamic. They’re at peace with where they are, and they are true best friends. Even with all their fame and all their wealth, Debbie and Carrie will remind you of so many mothers and daughters of that age that have become best pals but still have that mom-daughter thing going on.
Directors Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens have a masterful touch. The duo clearly are huge fans of Carrie and Debbie, and obviously the directors have gained their trust — but when the time comes for Stevens to ask a poignant question off-screen to move things along, or to even enter the frame, he’ll do so.
“Bright Lights” reminds us Debbie Reynolds was a gigantic star, and her husband Eddie Fisher (Carrie’s father) was an even bigger star for a few years, and when Eddie left Debbie for Elizabeth Taylor, it was the scandal of the 1950s — but eventually Debbie and Liz became friends.
As for Eddie Fisher, onetime teen idol and mega-selling artist, who abandoned his wife and children, got hooked on crystal meth and lost everything: Carrie’s visit to her dying father is unforgettable.
“Star Wars” fanatics are sure to love Carrie’s comments after she finally started attending fan conventions and embracing her legacy as Princess Leia: “I’m her custodian and I’m as close as you’re gonna get [to her]. She’s me and I’m her. They talk to me like I’m Princess Leia. … It’s nice. They’re nice.”
But for all the scenes of Debbie performing onstage at the South Point in Vegas, and Carrie telling stories about her life at the apex of her fame, and all the footage reminding us they were two major stars, my favorite moments in “Bright Lights” are the small, quiet scenes when mother and daughter are chasing their respective dogs around, sharing breakfast, launching into a duet just for fun, or bickering in that way a mom and daughter bicker after 60 years together, and no, you couldn’t possibly understand us.

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© Source: http://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/bright-lights-captures-carrie-fisher-debbie-reynolds-rapport/
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NEW YORK , Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A short film on YouTube revealing similarities between terrorism and organized crime has won attention across the Arab world and the West. Titled «Outside the Box,» it shows how techniques used successfully to weaken the mafia through civil society can also be applied to groups like ISIS.
«It’s ‘Outside the Box’ because the inferences are unusual and the format is interactive,» explained the film’s creator, Mideast specialist Joseph Braude. «In six minutes you witness multiple countries’ experiences fighting the underworld, then interact with those experiences by clicking on them. »
The video asks, regarding the global anti-ISIS campaign, «The day after you bomb their bases and evict their leaders, what prevents a new terror group from taking their place? » A professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice responds: «Where there’s terror, organized crime, or chaos, you need police with integrity to step in and fill the void; citizens committed to the rule of law to lighten the burden on police; and opportunities for youth to lead a life of hope and resilience. These challenges aren’t unique to the Muslim world. They’re global challenges. »
Footage shows how trans-state cartels in Brazil , Italy , and the U. S. resemble the likes of ISIS in that they espouse ideologies, claim territory, incite and recruit on social media, and kill for killing’s sake. But civic actors have used education, economic development, and state-society partnerships to undermine criminality and promote «lawful culture» in their stead.
«This film matters because it culls insights from so many different societies,» observed Alan Luxenberg , President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. «You can watch it for an overview, then use the interactive section to learn more and contact the players. At a time of information overload, such productions can boil down complex ideas and make it easy to act on them. »
Viewers thus far span the globe, including most Arab countries. «Each audience is important,» Braude said. «In Arab lands, many don’t know about experiences in Latin America , Southern Europe , and elsewhere that can provide hope and inspiration. Outside the Mideast, few realize that some Arab states have made impressive efforts in a parallel realm. »
SOURCE Joseph Braude

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© Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/video-by-mideast-specialist-joseph-braude-highlights-a-new-way-to-combat-terror-groups-300384160.html
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January 4, 2017
— Nineteenth-century English writer John Ruskin wrote beautifully: “I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don’t mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them.”
This thought-provoking observation begs the question, “Where is the power in humility?”
That’s a question I recently asked myself, while indulging in feelings of self-righteousness. I knew it was an important question, but I’m not sure I was ready, or wanting, to stop and be humble! I was justified in what I was unhappy about – or, at least, I made myself believe that I was.
But I knew better. In fact, through my study of Christian Science over the years, I’d learned some valuable life lessons about humility, teaching me how powerful it actually is. The first time I was introduced to the value of humility was when I learned of Christ Jesus’ counsel, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” ( Matthew 5:5 ).
It can be tempting to believe that meekness and humility equal weakness. But Jesus’ incredible accomplishments point to an understanding of meekness that is much more than that. In one particular statement, Jesus revealed this deeper meaning of humility. He said, “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me” ( John 8:28 ). Obviously, he wasn’t saying that he couldn’t do anything. He did amazing things – healing, raising the dead, walking on water, feeding multitudes – and led the way for others to follow in his example. Yet he was humble enough to realize that his divine Father, God, was the source of his ability. And he taught that God is also our Father – that God created each of us in His spiritual likeness (see Genesis 1:26, 27 ), and therefore is the true source of our abilities, too.
The greatness and magnitude of God’s power, which governs the entire spiritual universe, are infinite. Christian Science reveals that God is omnipresent Spirit, completely good, the only cause. As the effect of this great cause, we are each God’s perfect, spiritual offspring. This means that despite how it may seem when we look around, in truth you, I, and everyone exist spiritually – exclusively and entirely.
Humbly acknowledging that our source and being are in God opens the door for our true, good, capable nature to show through us more fully. Self-righteously, angrily clinging to a personal opinion obscures our view of that real nature of ours as God’s spiritual creation. On the other hand, when embracing God’s loving authority with all our heart, we naturally begin to abandon self-righteousness. This is humility in action. Jesus showed that such humility enables us to move forward and experience healing and harmony.
So the other day, when I was feeling that obnoxious sense of self-righteousness, I caught myself and considered my identity as the reflection of God, the source of all good. And harmony as well as freedom from those self-righteous feelings resulted from doing so, helping me see the power in humility. Always and everywhere, the one true power is God. Reality, gratefully, is in God’s perfect goodness, which through humble prayer can be evidenced in our lives in tangible ways.
Monitor founder Mary Baker Eddy explains in her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”: “The conceptions of mortal, erring thought must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal” ( p. 260 ). In light of that, I see that I have more to learn on the path to discovering “the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal,” and truly understanding that God is the only source and power, creating all as perfect and eternal. Yet it’s good to acknowledge progress. We all should do that. Step by step, as we prayerfully come to trust in God’s supremacy and our relation to Him as His reflection, we find the humility that brings healing to us and our world – even while we’re learning.

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© Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2017/0104/Where-is-the-power-in-humility
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