General Electric creates new 500GB holographic disc

The 500GB disc took more than six years to develop and is considered a major milestone in GE's quest to eventually produce optical discs capable of storing 1TB of data per disc. GE will first release holographic disc technology for the commercial archival industry, to be followed later by the consumer market.

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Have Home Security Alarm For A Secure House

The growth of the internet has provided advances in many fields but none more important to home owners than the effectiveness of internet home security systems. The internet can provide home security in many ways that were either not possible or less effective before its invention. Old techniques relied on telephone lines and human reaction to let any home owner sleep at night and generally were outsourced to a company instead of having the ability to monitor the security themselves.

As the world is getting smaller and more people find themselves traveling for work or play the need for internet home security regardless of physical location has become a must. Another growing reason for internet home security is the popularity of having a second home or vacation property located far away from their primary residence.

Here are some of the common ways that home owners have been able to merge the advancements of technology to provide comprehensive and reliable internet home security.

Home Security Advances

Cameras: Home owners can now know exactly what is going on in any room at any time in their house with internet home security cameras. Viewable anywhere from either a computer or hand held device, any home owner can look on their property and loved ones to ensure everything is peaceful and quiet. There is no limit either to how many you have set up or the location and angle in which you want it making this option very flexible and very effective.

Home Alarm Systems: Using a PDA or other portable device, home owners can be alerted if a door or window is opened in their home. Setting up motion sensors that make a loud sound to alert you is only effective if you are in the home; however, these motion sensors would now send you a signal over the internet to notify you immediately even if you are not at home when it happens. Smoke alarms systems can also be linked into the internet allowing the home owner to contact the proper authorities in case any situation should arise.

GPS: Popular with home owners whom have expensive treasures they want protected. It is used by attaching a GPS device to their property which allows them to track its location in case anyone does break in and steal anything.

These advances allow any home owner to provide wireless home security monitoring to ensure that if anything happens at their house they can find out immediately and can notify their loved ones and authorities to react to any situation. These options are generally one time expenses to setup unlike traditional home security which involves the monthly payments for a security company to monitor your home for you.

Log in to Atech Systems website and find ways to protect yourself.

After a string of fire deaths in the area, state and local officials are placing renewed emphasis on the importance of smoke alarms.

Most recently, a fire tore through a mobile home in Eros on Wednesday night, killing 20-year-old Christopher Quinlan and his infant son Ryan Quinlan while the father was giving his son a bath.

The mobile home had a smoke detector, but it was not working.

Greg Thompson, Ouachita Parish fire prevention officer, said non-working smoke detectors have been too common factors in the spate of fatal fires.

"We've had nine fatalities in Ruston, Monroe and Ouachita Parish in the last three and a half months," Thompson said. "In the last two weeks, the state has had 15 deaths. It's unusual to Louisiana, and a high rate when you compare its 4.5 million people to the U.S. population."

Thompson said the parish fire department will be pushing for residents to make sure they have smoke detectors and that they are in working order. "We've already made a push once during October," Thompson said. "All these deaths come with no working smoke detectors. It would have made a difference. It's senseless, and it's extremely preventable."

State Fire Marshal Butch Browning, who will speak in Monroe on Thursday, called the deaths a "tremendous loss" and encouraged citizens to donate smoke detectors to their local fire departments.

In 2005 — the most recent year in which statistics are available — Louisiana had a rate of 28.3 fire deaths per million population, averaging 16 more deaths per million than the national average, according to United States Fire Administration data.

Only the District of Columbia, Arkansas and Oklahoma had higher rates during that period.

According to the U.S. Fire Administration, fire problems vary from region to region because of climate, poverty, education, demographics and other factors.

Home security systems have increased in demand amid a weak economy as more homeowners raise concerns about crime, experts said.

Home security companies said they have seen a surge in people calling for alarm systems recently. One company told media this is usually the slowest time of the year, but it has been the busiest. John Meyer, the owner of ATECH Fire & Security, has worked in the security industry for 25 years.

He said his company is in demand "We're seeing a lot of phone calls," he said. "it happened to my friend, it happened to my neighbor."With the rise in unemployment, he said, his company has seen a rise in break-ins for items likes TVs that can be pawned, and many in rural areas.

These days, systems can even have cellular backup in case phone lines don't work. Meyer said many homeowners don't realize they can get a system for a few hundred to a thousand dollars. Police said that while the department has not observed an increase in home burglaries in the city, but any alarm system is a good deterrent.