Take your music to the water with ECOXGEAR’s new waterproof Bluetooth speaker

Wouldn’t it be nice to lounge in the pool and enjoy your favorite music without risking the health and well-being of your precious mobile device? We have seen a number of waterproof MP3 players and accessories over the years, including theSpeedo Aquabeat, the Fitness Technologies UWaterG2 and more recently a waterproof smartphone case with a built-in speaker, ECOXGEAR’s ECOXPRO. Until now, though, we hadn't seen a waterproof Bluetooth speaker (as opposed to water-resistant, like the iShower) like ECOXGEAR’s new ECOXBT. It allows you to listen to your favorite songs in the water while your cell phone or Bluetooth compatible MP3 player remains safely on dry land.

The primary selling point to the ECOXBT is the Bluetooth connectivity. It would not do you much good to have a waterproof speaker if your not-so-waterproof mobile device had to be connected to it. By using Bluetooth, your device is able to stay on dry land while you rock out to your favorite tunes. Of course, you can only travel within the range of Bluetooth, so do not expect to be taking this on treks into the ocean. For hanging out in the pool, it should be perfect.

You can also use the ECOXBT as a speakerphone. Simply answer the call and talk into it as you would any other Bluetooth device.

The waterproof speaker is also able to float. You can drop it in the water and let it lazily float around the pool without having to worry about going on a diving expedition when it sinks to the bottom.

The ECOXBT looks rugged. A rubberized handle that looks like it can take a fall and keep on working envelops the entire speaker. Their website makes no mention of the kind of force the speaker can take, but it certainly appears designed to take a little bit of a beating.

The device is pretty chunky, which adds to its rugged look. It weighs a pound and half (0.68 kg), measures nine inches long (23 cm), four inches (10 cm) tall and just under three inches (8 cm) deep. The ECOXBT features two, two-inch (5-cm) full-range speakers designed to provide the audio juice.

ECOXGEAR includes a Lithium rechargeable battery that supports up to 10 hours of playtime on normal volume settings. It includes a USB to AC wall charger that is designed to fully charge the speakers in around two hours.

There is no official word on a release date or price for the ECOXBT. Gizmodo suggests that the device will come in at around US$100, but we will have to wait to hear from ECOXGEAR for confirmation.

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NASA's Mars lander Curiosity has landed safely on Mars. After a 253-day voyage punctuated by a dramatic plunge through the Martian atmosphere, the nuclear-powered rover has reported to mission control that it is on the ground and systems are nominal. The landing occurred at 10:31 p.m. U.S. PDT (August 6, 05:31 GMT) plus or minus a minute. The landing site was near the base of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater, 4.6 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude. This marks the beginning of a two-year mission to seek out places where life may have existed on Mars – or may yet exist today.

Curiosity is the most ambitious Mars landing mission to date. Launched by NASA atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on November 26, 2011, the US$2.5 billion mission is intended to study Gale Crater for past and present signs of habitable environments where life might have, or does exist.

At a current distance of 154 million miles (248 million km), the time it took for the signal confirming the lander's successful touchdown took 13.8 minutes to reach Flight Control. Because of this lag, the landing had to be done entirely under automatic control. This in itself was enough to instill a severe case of nerves in Mission Control members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

When that automatic control had to operate while slamming into the Martian atmosphere at 13,200 mph (5,900 mps) with deceleration forces of up to 11 g’s, control an Entry vehicle with a revolutionary heat shield capable of flying like a lifting body, deploy a supersonic parachute at exactly the right moment, jettison the shield and aeroshell seconds later and then drop the Curiosity rover gently to the surface using a rocket powered sky crane, then it's understandable if those nerves became seriously jangled. The purpose of all of this was to bring Curiosity safely to the surface of Mars – and it worked.

Here's NASA's official update marking the historic landing:

"NASA's Curiosity rover has landed on Mars! Its descent-stage retrorockets fired, guiding it to the surface. Nylon cords lowered the rover to the ground in the 'sky crane' maneuver. When the spacecraft sensed touchdown, the connecting cords were severed, and the descent stage flew out of the way. The time of day at the landing site is mid-afternoon -- about 3 p.m. local Mars time at Gale Crater. The time at JPL's mission control is about 10:31 p.m. Aug. 5 PDT (early morning EDT)."

Curiosity is itself a record breaker, being the largest rover ever sent to the Red Planet. The size of a 4x4, it’s 9 feet, 10 inches (3.0 m) long, stands 7 feet (2.1 m) tall with its mast extended and weighs 1,982 pounds (899 kg). And if that isn’t enough, it is nuclear powered with a radioisotope thermoelectric generator cranking out 2,700 watts and lithium-ion batteries for backup.

Curiosity carries ten science experiments as part of its 165 pound (75 kg) c(MLS). Its equipment includes a mast with high-definition cameras, a robotic arm for collecting samples and a laser that is powerful enough to vaporize rock for spectrographic analysis. The MLS also has the most sophisticated laboratory ever sent to Mars to seek signs of water and analyze soil and rock samples.

Curiosity’s primary mission is scheduled to last one Martian year (98 weeks), during which it will roam around Gale Crater carrying out experiments and seeking areas where life may exist. Having survived the landing, it must now survive hard UV and other radiation, highly corrosive soil, dust storms far more violent than any on Earth and temperatures ranging from -130° F to 32° F (-90° C to 0° C). That’s a lot for any rover to go through, but if the careers of Curiosity’s predecessors such as Opportunity are any indicator, surviving the landing may be the scary prelude to a long, fruitful career.

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هنيئا لتونس , حبيبة الغريبي في المرتبة الثانية و تتحصل علي الميدالية الفضية

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بعد الكوليرا الطاعون يجتاح مناطق تونسية.

تقرير منظمة الصحة العالمية ... 

بعد الكوليرا إكتشاف مرض الطاعون في بعض المواشي 

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بعد اكتشاف جرثومة الكوليرا منذ أسبوعين نشرت المنظمة العالمية لصحة الحيوان معلومات عن رصد مرض الطاعون و في كل من ولايات قفصة سيدي بوزيد و أريانة.

و الى حدود 2 اوت تم تسجيل 32 حالة في صفوف الحيوانات (مثل الابقار و الاغنام) ادت الى موت 23 دابة و قرابة 1849 إحتمال إصابة بالعدوى . ولا يعرف مصدر تفشي المرض و أصل العدوى.

و الطاعون مرض بكتيري معدي حاد، من الأمراض المشتركة بين الإنسان والحيوان ويصنف كأحد الأمراض المحجرية الخطيرة التي تسبب أوبئة في حالة عدم السيطرة عليها.

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[JO 2012] Finale du 1500 NL

 Finale du 1500 NL oussema mallouli 3 éme place

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Oussama Melloui se qualifie pour la finale des 1.500m Nage Libre

Le champion du Monde et Olympique tunisien, le nageur Oussama Melloui (28ans), s’est classé 2ème à l’épreuve des 1.500m Nage Libre de la course n°4 qu’il a parcourue en 14:46.23 au Centre aquatique de Londres, ce vendredi 3 août, derrière le chinois Yang Sun (20ans) 14:43.25. Mellouli a réalisé le meilleur second temps dans les 5 courses des 1.500m qui se sont déroulées aujourd'hui. La finale des 1.500m Nage Libre aura lieu demain samedi 4 août. Nous espérons qu'Oussama Mellouli décroche au moins la médaille d'Or en honneur à la Tunisie.”

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JO 2012-Boxe (64 Kg): Houya en 8ès de finale

Le boxeur tunisien Abderrazek Houya s'est qualifié pour les huitièmes de finale de l'épreuve poids super-léger des jeux Olympiques Londres 2012 en battant lundi soir Gaybatulla Gadzhialiyev (Azerbaïdjan) 19-16.
Il affrontera au prochain tour l'australien Jeffrey Horn samedi 4 août à partir de 22h00.

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JO Londres 2012-Athlétisme: Habiba Ghribi en finale du 3000 m steeple

La tunisienne Habiba ghribi s'est qualifiée en finale du 3000m steeple des Jeux Olympiques en terminant à la 2e place de la série 2 avec 9min 27sec 42 cent réalisant au passage sa meilleure performance de la saison, samedi à Londres.

L'éthiopienne Sofia Assefa a pris la première place avec 9min 25sec 42cent.

Sont également qualifiées en finale dans cette série, l'américaine Emma Coburn (9min 27sec 51cent) et l'espagnole Marta Dominguez (9min 29sec 71 cent) respectivement 3e et 4e.

Habiba Ghribi, médaillée d'argent du 3000m steeple aux championnats du monde à Daegu en 2011, disputera la finale olympique lundi 6 août à 21h05 (ht).

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The United Nations General Assembly has approved a non-binding resolution that both condemns the Syrian government's use of heavy weapons in the fight against rebel forces and criticizes the U.N. Security Council for failing to agree on measures to stem the violence. 

The Saudi-drafted measure cleared the assembly on Friday.  It expresses "grave concern" over the escalating violence in Syria and reiterates calls for a Syrian-led political transition to a "democratic, pluralistic political system."  It also deplores the Security Council's failure to agree on provisions that would ensure the Syrian government's compliance with U.N. decisions.

The measure was approved by 133 representatives of the 193-member assembly, with 12 "no" votes and 31 abstentions.

Russia and China were among the dissenters.  The two countries have vetoed three separate Security Council resolutions threatening tougher measures against Syria.

Battles Rage in Syria

Opposition activists say security forces and rebels clashed in the Damascus neighborhood of Tadamun on Friday, in the 17-month-old uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  

They also say government attacks and clashes erupted in other areas of the country, including Hama and Idlib province.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebels took over a police station in the northern city of Aleppo where government forces have been pounding neighborhoods in a bid to regain control of rebel strongholds.

The Britain-based group says at least 25 people were killed in unrest across Syria, including 12 security officers who died during a four-day battle with rebels in Deir el-Zour province.

Praise, Criticism for UNGA Resolution

The resolution that cleared the assembly was a watered-down version of a draft debated earlier in the week.

The measure's Arab sponsors dropped language calling for Mr. Assad's resignation, due to objections.

However, the resolution still drew strong condemnation from some countries, including Syria and Russia.

Syria's ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, called the resolution a "piece of theater."  He called its main sponsors, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, "despotic oligarchies."

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin blasted the resolution.  It "hides blatant support to the armed opposition," he said.

The measure drew support from Western countries, including the United States and France.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said "despite the continued opposition of an increasingly isolated minority," an "overwhelming majority" of U.N. members were standing with the Syrian people.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud also welcomed the measure but criticized the Security Council for a lack of action on Syria.

UN Envoy Resigns

The U.N. General Assembly vote comes just one day after Kofi Annan announced his resignation as U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, blaming a lack of international support and "finger-pointing and name calling" in the Security Council.

"The increasing militarization on the ground and the clear lack of unity in the Security Council have fundamentally changed the circumstances for the effective exercise of my role," he said.

Both the Syrian rebels and the government failed to commit themselves to Mr. Annan's peace plan for Syria, which included an immediate cease-fire and talks on a transitional government.

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WHITE HOUSE — President Barack Obama and his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, are taking opposing views of the latest figures on U.S. unemployment.  The numbers provide ammunition for both sides. 
 
The Labor Department says America's private employers created 163,000 jobs in July, more than expected and the most since February.

The unemployment rate, however, edged upward to 8.3 percent, from 8.2 percent in June.  The jobless rate has remained above 8 percent since President Obama's first month in office, in 2009.

At the White House, the president said 4.5 million jobs have been created in the past 29 months, and 1.1 million jobs so far this year, but he admitted that more improvement is needed.

"Those are our neighbors and family members finding work and the security that comes with work," said Obama.  "But let's acknowledge: We have still got too many folks out there who are looking for work."

While Obama says the numbers are a sign of a continuing recovery, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney calls them "another hammer blow" to the middle class.

Campaigning in Las Vegas, Nevada, Romney said the president's policies are responsible for the struggling economy.

"Policies that have led America to have 42 straight months with unemployment above 8 percent, 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work and underemployed," said Romney.  "Those policies, we know where they lead.  They lead to an America that is not as strong as it must be for ourselves, for our children and for the world."

The number of jobs created so far this year has been enough to keep pace with population growth, but not enough to bring the unemployment rate down.

The U.S. economy grew at a sluggish 1.5 percent from April through June, after faster growth earlier in the year.

The president said Congress could help speed the economic recovery by passing a tax cut extension for all but the richest Americans.  Republicans want the tax cuts continued for all taxpayers.

"Now I just think we have got our priorities skewed if the notion is that we give tax breaks to folks who do not need them, and to help pay for that, we tax folks who are already struggling to get by," Obama added.  "That is not how you grow an economy."

The state of the economy is the issue that is most likely to affect the outcome of November's election.

Romney blames the Democratic president for the slow pace of the recovery.  Obama says the previous administration's Republican policies made the recession worse and the recovery more difficult.

No president since World War II has run for re-election with unemployment higher than 8 percent.  Many public opinion polls show that more Americans like Obama, but more of them trust Romney to lead the economy.

The president has been appealing to middle class voters, saying that he represents their interests and stressing Romney's status as a wealthy businessman.  Romney says his business experience will help improve the nation's economy.

Most polls have the two candidates virtually even overall, about three months before Election Day.

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