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Elon Musk said he will pay for home water filters in Flint
Four years ago, the Flint water crisis began when officials switched its source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Its more corrosive water caused dangerous levels of lead from old pipes to leach into the city's drinking water, poisoning residents. Now, after fighting with officials just to get the problem recognized in 2015, many residents still don't trust the city's tap water. Into the fray steps Elon Musk, fresh off of his submarine-building exploits, responding to a tweet with this promise "Please consider this a commitment that I will fund fixing the water in any house in Flint that has water contamination above FDA levels. No kidding."
University of Michigan teams with Google to track Flint water crisis
Thanks to the prolific ineptitude of elected officials, the water in Flint, Michigan has been tainted with lead and undrinkable for more than a year. And while the federal government has, just last week, finally gotten around to earmarking $170 million for infrastructure improvements in the blighted city, tangible relief for its residents is still months if not years away. A new app developed by the University of Michigan with backing by Google will help those living in Flint track the rebuilding progress.
Popular Mac Campfire client Flint lands on iOS
Campfire is a very popular web-based chat and team-collaboration tool from 37Signals that has spawned a number of apps that ease use of the tool on both Mac and mobile devices. Now one of the more popular native clients for Campfire on OS X, Flint, has been released as an iOS app at an introductory price of US$4.99. Giant Comet's Flint for iOS is a universal app that is at home on an iPhone or an iPad, and it was designed to work with iOS 7. Push notifications can be set up for specific keywords, so if you need to be alerted of team conversations regarding a certain project or person, you'll get pinged through Notification Center. The app can be set to connect to multiple Campfire accounts or sites, and multiple rooms can be open at the same time. Rather than just seeing user names, avatars for each user appear for instantaneous recognition of your fellow team members. And if you need to provide your team with media from YouTube, Vimeo, CloudApp, Instagram, Flickr or more, that media is previewed inline -- there's no need for a browser to be opened up for viewing. Fans of Flint for OS X should definitely consider picking up the iOS version while it's available at half-price.
Outspark announces Flint publishing platform
Outspark -- makers of popular free-to-play MMOs Fiesta, Luvinia, and more -- announced today the release of its new publishing platform, Outspark Flint. It's a logical addition, considering the company's recent move to publishing third-party titles. Outspark believes that Flint will bring new MMO titles into the reach of the more than 200 million players that Outspark commands. The first game on the Flint platform is Lord of Ages, an MMORTS which went live last week. Outspark claims that "the platform is enabling Lord of Ages to reach an even larger audience." The platform itself is an "open API that provides third-party developers and operators with all of the tools necessary for distribution, user acquisition, analytics, monetization, marketing and operations." Whether this new platform indeed helps Outspark reach its goals or not, we'll have to wait and see.
Comcast adds an HD trio in Flint / West Bloomfield, Michigan
The weather may be downright dreadful in the Detroit area, but Comcast's warming the hearts of local subscribers with an HD trifecta. Arriving just in time for the weekend, residents of Flint and West Bloomfield, Michigan can now soak in the sweet high-def vibes cast from SPEED HD (223), FOX News HD (214) and FX HD (224). Happy holidays, indeed.[Thanks, Patrick and Jeremy]
AT&T takes Total Home DVR to five more U-verse locales
Another day, another round of U-verse Total Home DVR rollouts. This time, the good news is being bestowed upon residents of Columbus, Flint, Kansas City, Lubbock and Oklahoma City, giving each of the areas the ability to watch HD / SD DVR recordings on other connected TVs in the home. Here's hoping AT&T takes care of the rest of y'all in short order -- we're eager for some more U-verse TV expansion, as nice as this update is and all.[Thanks, Anthony]
AT&T now offering U-verse in Flint and Saginaw, Michigan
AT&T's footprint in Michigan is growing larger, as both Flint and Saginaw-area residents now have yet another option when it comes to programming. AT&T's U-verse TV, high-speed internet and U-verse Voice are now available in select parts of nearly 30 local communities, including Flint, Midland, Saginaw and others. As it tends to do, the provider has vowed to make it available in more locales in the coming months, though it doesn't provide any clarity beyond that. If you're frustrated with your current carrier and you call either of the aforesaid cities home, give AT&T a call and see if it's time for a momentous change in your life.
DISH Network gets official with HD locals in four more markets
Shortly after the AMC-14 launch went awry, we received confirmation that DISH Network's Spring HD rollout was still on track. Apparently things are going better than expected, as the satellite provider is getting official with HD locals in four new markets today. As we'd heard already, both Orlando and West Palm Beach, Florida have already been admitted into the HD locals club, while Austin, Texas and Flint, Michigan are joining days ahead of the scheduled April rollout. Best of all, DISH affirms that we'll be seeing lots more where this came from over the course of 2008, so if you're market hasn't been touched just yet, hang tight.
PlayStation Phone development continues
Late last month, Sony Ericsson's Peter Ahnegard said the company is definitely looking into the possibility of a PlayStation Phone but that he wouldn't comment further until Christmas. Well, the President of Sony Ericsson Miles Flint couldn't wait that long. Flint told the Financial Times the "technology behind such a device was still some way from being perfected." He also said, "We need to make sure that it is a credible phone and be sure we are justified in putting that identity on it."That's actually a pretty good point. It's obvious the PS Phone would be Sony's third tier gaming platform, so how many people would really be interested in toting around yet another handheld gaming device? Wouldn't a VOIP service like the one in the works for Europe not only make more sense but also be cheaper on the wallet?
