Blog Post: In search of silence

I once had the good fortune to spend a day interviewing Gordon Hempton, a ‘sound tracker’ who is on a mission to find the quietest places on earth. It’s surprisingly hard to do: think of all the car traffic, airplane traffic and other manmade noises society produces. I remember walking with him along Rialto Beach on the wild Washington coast listening to the pounding of surf on rocks, while Hempton looked for optimum microphone placement to find a spot, just one spot, free of human interference.

In my travels, I’m always pleasantly surprised to find a silent corner of the world. When I find them, I savor them: sunrise on a remote caye in Belize, the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a high altitude camping sight. But really, should we have to go to extreme measures to find some peace and quiet? Sometimes, yes, but sometimes they are just a short walk up a forest path, or behind the walls of a museum in a big city. We sought out some of the quietest spots around the world – including many here in the U.S. – and share them with you in the new Bing Travel slideshow, In Search of Silence. (By the way, Gordon Hempton did find the quietest place in the United States, and we included it in the slideshow.)

Where are your favorite places to find peace and quiet? Tell us by leaving a comment below.

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HARDBALL: Jon Stewart Was "Holier-Than-Thou" In His Fox News Sunday Interview

"He didn't do a very effective job... because it seemed so personal and because it seemed almost like a vendetta."

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See Also:

• Jon Stewart On FOX News Sunday: 'In Every Poll FOX Viewers Are The Most Consistently Misinformed'
• JON STEWART On FOX News Sunday: 'Being A Comedian Is Harder Than What You Do'
• Rachel Maddow Destroys The Myth About Texas Having A Great Economy

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The Poscast With Bob Costas

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• INSTANT MBA: The Key to Motivating Employees? Stop Trying
• INSTANT MBA: If You Miss The "Shifts," You'll Miss The Future
• INSTANT MBA: People Are More Willing To Buy From You When They're Scared

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Windows 8 App Store images leaked?

Windows 8 images continue to leak onto the Internet, despite Microsoft's wallpaper-based pleas to those with access to the early releases. Today's installment courtesy CNBeta shows the upcoming Windows App Store, which will likely feature prominently in Windows 8.

We've got our doubts about the authenticity of the image. In addition to showing several of the built-in games which already ship with Windows, Opera is listed -- and a competing browser seems like an odd inclusion this early on. Of course, with the browser ballot still in place in the EU for quite some time, Microsoft would probably need to include rivals like Opera and Firefox to stay out of trouble. We're also not sure why Clickgamer is shown beneath Angry Birds instead of Rovio -- the game's actual publisher.

It's still early, of course, so it's entirely possible that the Windows App Store image is genuine but merely using placeholder images and text for now. Anyone else thinking Windows Marketplace might be a more logical name? You know, to keep things consistent with Windows Phone and keep Apple's legal eagles at bay.

Windows 8 App Store images leaked? originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TripAdvisor app for Windows Phone 7 now available

TripAdvisor, the popular travel planning tool, has just launched an app for Windows Phone 7. Just like the mobile website, the app allows you to search for anything travel-related -- from hotels and flights to restaurants and points-of-interest to visit once you reach your destination.

Geolocation is supported, which allows TripAdvisor to quickly locate places nearby. But while that's a neat feature, it's also a bit of a downer -- because, really, it's about the only feature TripAdvisor for WP7 brings to the table that its mobile Web app doesn't already offer (its browser-based geolocation doesn't work with WP7 at the moment).

While it's nice to see Windows Phone 7 users getting some big-name apps, it'd be even nicer if we saw some packing a bit more swagger.

Still, TripAdvisor for WP7 might just be worth installing on your device if you're frequently on the go -- at least until a better browser arrives with the Mango update.

Gallery: TripAdvisor for Windows Phone 7

TripAdvisor app for Windows Phone 7 now available originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My Kansas City Goodbye

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Pantech Crossover review

The Pantech Crossover is one of those phones that's hard to place. It's a bit smaller than most of it's smartphone brethren, isn't packing the latest components, plus it's got a retro-funky design. It's a bit of an anomaly in the sea of high-end phones surrounding it, but at the very least, it's a breath of fresh air.

But what does that mean for those on AT&T? Is this keyboard-packing slider worth investing in? For those with furious fingers, is this seemingly rugged, message-focused phone the one for you?

Those are all questions I aim to tackle, so take a deep breath, join me after the break, and let's find out.

 

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iCloud: What If Someone Trips on It?

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Android Central Editors' app picks for June 18, 2011

Half the fun of having an Android device is the wide selection of amazing applications which are available in the Android market. But half the battle is trying to find ones that you want, or that serve the purpose you need, but as you know we love our readers, so each week we bring you some of our personal favorites. Hit the break and let's take a look at what we got for you all this week!

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T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide caught in wild, looks darn sexy

Well, well. What have we here? It's the long-rumored T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide. And, boy howdy, does that look like a fine piece of smartphone, now that it's far less blurry than the last time it poked up its head.

Let's talk about what we can glean from the pics: There's the obvious four-row sliding keyboard. And we'd wager it's as good as any out there, given that it's made by HTC. Note that the "G" button remains, a holdover from the original keyboardless myTouch 4G. We could take it or leave it. (Leaning toward the latter.) Also note that in addition to the dedicated .com key, its alternate function is www. Nice!

It's also said to have an updated Espresso UI (Gingerbread, says TmoNews' source), but otherwise keeps the overall look and feel (including the heft) of the original myTouch 4G.

Still no word on when we'll officially see this guy. But it's already gone through the FCC, and it's likely in the hands of civilian testers now. So hopefully sooner rather than later. More pics are at the source link.

Source: TmoNews

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Google Voice Search learns Latin American Spanish, Indonesian, and Malaysian

Google Voice Search has just introduced localizations for Latin America, Indonesia and Malaysia, enabling native language search for hundreds of millions of users.

Google's official blog post offers some interesting insights into the process of collecting and analyzing the speech data needed to expand support. Thousands of hours were spent gathering voice samples and choosing key regional accents to analyze, and International Program Manager Linne Ha is clearly very appreciative of the Google users who helped the company complete the expansion. Without an enthusiastic base of users to lend a hand, Google Voice Search's polyglot powers would have been nearly impossible to deliver.

Google Voice Search learns Latin American Spanish, Indonesian, and Malaysian originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Talking The Talk: Verbally Lets The Speech Disabled Communicate Using The iPad (For Free)

Intuary, a mobile app startup, recently launched its first app, called Verbally, which is designed to bring speech to those without. Verbally is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) solution built for the more than six million people in the U.S. suffering from speech disabilities -- caused by Lou Gherig's Disease, stroke, brain injury, Parkinson's, cerebral palsy, autism, and more. The app allows users to tap the words they wish to communicate onto the app's keyboard, or choose from pre-prepared words or phrases, which are then in turn transmitted into audio phrases.

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