News Briefs

Fossett’s wife wants him declared dead

The wife of Steve Fossett, the missing adventurer, has asked a Cook County court to declare him dead. “As difficult as it is for me…I no longer hold out any hope that Steve has survived,” wrote Peggy Fossett in the court documents she filed. The last time Fossett was seen was in September. He was flying a single-engine plane over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. When he did not return, a search began that came to include thousands of volunteers. Rick Rains of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department said that if Fossett was able to survive and find water, he would have been able to signal searchers. No one that was involved in the search feels that the adventurer is still alive after all this time.



Verizon to loosen its grip

The telecommunications giant, Verizon, has recently announced that it will be relaxing the control of their network. Starting in 2008, they will begin supporting any device or software application on their network. The minor catch is that the device will have to properly connect to the network. The company will be publishing their technical standards for connecting to the communications network at the beginning of next year. Any person wishing to use a device on the network will need to have it certified by the company for a “surprisingly reasonable” fee. One company executive went so far as to say that if someone wanted to connect a device that they made in their basement using a breadboard, they would do it after it’s certified to work properly with the network. The reason the company has made this move is to satisfy a small but growing niche of customers.



LED Christmas lights save energy, money

This Christmas, many people will begin to see LED (light-emitting diode) Christmas lights on the store shelves. Energy-conscious consumers will now have the option to save money on their electric bill because of this. The reason is that LED lights use one-tenth of the energy of the time-honored incandescent bulb. The only drawback is the upfront cost for the bulbs. They can be twice as expensive as the conventional lights. Besides energy usage, LED lights have the added advantage that they will last up to 200 times longer than the regular bulbs. This will prevent consumers from trying to find that one broken light that makes the entire strand not light up. LEDs are also less of a fire risk since they operate at much

cooler temperatures.