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Larry Magid: Turning ordinary small appliances into smart ones

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

Like many households, my wife and I have a fair number of small appliances like room fans, space heaters and kitchen appliances including an air fryer, microwave and indoor grill.  Some of these, like our Atomi space heater, our Cosari Air Fryer, our Bosch stove top and our Toshiba microwave are “smart,” in that they have a WiFi connection and an app that reports their current state such as whether they’re on or off, their temperature and time left before shut-off).Related ArticlesBusiness | Magid: Using a personal computer to read and send texts Business | Larry Magid: Using ChatGPT for holiday gift ideas and cards Business | Larry Magid: Survey sheds light on parent, teen feelings about Generative AI Business | Magid: White House order provides guidance on AI safety Some let you use the app or your voice (via Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple Siri) to turn them on and off or set a temperature, but others don’t. The a...

Northern California substitute teacher accused of baring his buttocks to sixth-graders

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

A substitute teacher at Anderson Middle School was arrested after allegedly exposing his buttocks to a class of sixth-graders.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Where does all the surplus stuff from tech companies go? To schools, thanks to RAFT Crime and Public Safety | “This is just the beginning”: Pro-Palestinian teach-in held at dozens of Oakland schools Crime and Public Safety | Oakland Unified pushes back against unsanctioned ‘teach-in’ on ‘Palestinian struggle’ Crime and Public Safety | Reading scores climb after targeted intervention at California’s worst-performing schools Crime and Public Safety | South Bay high school district holding workshops on trustee elections The incident was reported to Anderson police around noon on Tuesday, Dec. 5.A vice principal at the school said two sixth-graders came to her office and said that the teacher’s jeans and underpant...

Woman who threw bowl of food at Chipotle worker sentenced to work 2 months in fast food job

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

By Chris Isidore | CNNNew York — A woman who threw a bowl of hot food in the face of a Chipotle worker has been sentenced to a month in jail — and two months working a fast food job.Videos of the woman, Rosemary Hayne, berating Chipotle worker Emily Russell on September 5 and then throwing the food in her face at close range, went viral after the incident. Hayne, a 39-year old mother of four, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge and received the sentence last week in the Parma, Ohio, municipal court. Judge Timothy Gilligan gave her the choice of a 90-day jail sentence or a 30-day sentence on top of 60 days working in a fast food job.“Do you want to walk in her shoes for two months and learn how people should treat people, or do you want to do your jail time?” Gilligan asked Hayne at the hearing.“I’d like to walk in her shoes,” Hayne responded.Hayne has yet to find the job, Gilligan and her attorney told CNN on Wednesday. Her attorney, Joseph O’Malley, said his client had n...

McDonald’s unveils spinoff CosMc’s, weirder than expected

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

Shedding light on its long-awaited and oddly secretive CosMc’s concept, McDonald’s on Wednesday finally shared more about the café pilot, which seems to be its answer to Starbucks.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | 7 amazing Bay Area things to do this weekend Restaurants, Food and Drink | Michelin Bib Gourmand Mexican restaurant Flores opens in San Mateo Restaurants, Food and Drink | Map: 7 new Bay Area restaurants, and 3 that are closing Restaurants, Food and Drink | Panera hit with another wrongful death suit over its caffeinated ‘charged lemonade’ Restaurants, Food and Drink | San Jose baker to compete on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge It was weirder than expected.Over the summer, McDonald’s teased the test of a new restaurant concept.We knew then that CosMc’s is named for a little-known McDonald’s character, an alien introduced in the 1980s. We also learned that CosMc’s “i...

California rent 5% off peak as vacancies hit 32-month high

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

“Rent Watch” tracks what’s happening at the intersection of landlords and tenants – who is paying what and where.Buzz: California rents are down four straight months – and modestly off all-time highs – as the number of empty units hit a 32-month high.Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked into ApartmentList’s tally of rent and vacancy rates across California. The math based on a combination of Census surveys of what renters are paying and landlord’s listing data that tracks a mix of units with varying numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms.ToplineThe typical California rent was $1,917 a month in November, by this math, part of an ongoing slide since July. Yes, it’s a slow period for landlords, but average rents are now 5% off peak pricing seen in August 2022 – back when the pandemic pushed tenants to find larger living spaces.Why the recent price dip? Well, life has returned to near-normalcy and the lofty cost of renting plus the state’s shrinking population a...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts higher ahead of a highly anticipated jobs report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting higher Thursday following its first three-day losing streak since Halloween.The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in morning trading and continuing to hang near its highest level since March 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 43 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.Oil-and-gas stocks rose, including a 1.3% gain for Exxon Mobil, after crude prices recovered some of their sharp tumble from the day before. They helped to offset drops for some companies reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than expected. Chewy fell 4.3% as sales growth slows for the seller of pet food and supplies.Cerevel Therapeutics jumped 12.8% after AbbVie announced an $8.7 billion deal to buy the company and its pipeline of candidates for schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and other diseases. AbbVie added 0.3%.Much of Wall Street’s recent rally has been because of rising hopes that the Federal Reserve is fina...

House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Bowman for pulling a fire alarm in House office building

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House members voted again Thursday to punish one of their own, targeting Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in one of the U.S. Capitol office buildings in September when the chamber was in session. The Republican censure resolution passed with some Democratic votes, but most Democrats stood by Bowman in opposition of an effort they said lacked credibility and integrity. The prominent progressive now becomes the third Democratic House member to be admonished this year through the censure process, which is a punishment one step below expulsion from the House.“It’s painfully obvious to myself, my colleagues and the American people that the Republican Party is deeply unserious and unable to legislate,” Bowman said Wednesday as he defended himself during floor debate. “Their censure resolution against me today continues to demonstrate their inability to govern and serve the American people.”The vote to censure Bowman caps nearly a year of chaos an...

House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling fire alarm, making him latest member punished this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House votes to censure Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman for pulling fire alarm, making him latest member punished this year.Source

Putin continues his blitz round of Mideast diplomacy by hosting the Iranian president

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Iran’s president Thursday as part of a blitz round of Middle East diplomacy that also included visits to United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in efforts to raise Moscow’s profile as a power broker in the region.Putin has cast the Israel-Hamas war as a failure of U.S. diplomacy and suggested Moscow could be a mediator, thanks to its friendly ties with both Israel and the Palestinians.“It’s very important for us to exchange views of the situation in the region, particularly regarding the Palestinian situation,” Putin said as he welcomed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the start of their talks in Moscow.Raisi emphasized the need to quickly stop the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, declaring that “a child is killed there every 10 minutes.” “It’s not just a regional issue, it’s an issue for the entire humankind,” he told Putin, adding that “it’s necessary to find a quick solution.”Iran, which has been a staunch support...

Texas judge grants pregnant woman permission to get an abortion despite state’s ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:07:37 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Thursday granted a pregnant woman permission to obtain an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to the state’s ban that took effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.It was unclear how quickly or whether Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from the Dallas area, will be able to obtain an abortion. State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, an elected Democrat, said she would grant a temporary restraining order that would allow Cox to have an abortion. That decision is likely to be appealed by the state.Cox is 20 weeks pregnant and doctors say her fetus has a fatal diagnosis. Her attorneys told Gamble that Cox went to an emergency room this week for a fourth time since her pregnancy. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Texas’ strict abortion ban will face an unprecedented test Thursday, when a judge considers a request for an emergency court order that would allow a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fat...