Insanely great plasma TV – Panasonic TC-P55ST50 review

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MRPanReview

CNET –

The good: The affordable Panasonic TC-PST50 series exhibited outstanding overall picture quality, characterized by exceedingly deep black levels with great shadow detail, accurate colors, and solid bright-room performance. Unlike LCDs, as a plasma it has superb off-angle and uniformity characteristics. The styling is attractive and the feature set well-chosen, including excellent onscreen help options.

The bad: The ST50 uses more power than competing LCD TVs, and doesn’t perform as well in bright rooms as those with matte screens. It doesn’t come with 3D glasses, and it showed more crosstalk in 3D than some competing TVs. The ST50 is only available in 50-inch and larger sizes. Three HDMI inputs is one fewer than most midrange TVs offer.

The bottom line: With flagship-level picture quality for a midlevel price, the Panasonic ST50 series sets the value standard among videophile-grade TVs.

Nat Geo Pictures: 11 Most Endangered U.S. Historic Sites Named

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Ellis Island Hospital Complex, New York

Photograph courtesy Clara Daly

Millions of immigrants passed through the hospital complex on Ellis Island, New York (pictured) between 1892 and 1954. But its buildings have stood largely idle or shuttered for decades.

Although the National Park Service stabilized the hospital structures ten years ago, millions of dollars are still needed to rehabilitate the interiors, according to the National Trust website.

According to Meeks, a site must meet three criteria to be considered for placement on the National Trust’s annual list.

“We look at the significance of the property, the urgency of the threat, and the possibility of a positive outcome,” Meeks said.

“Most of the nominations come from preservation organizations … but we’ll also take them from individuals and community groups,” she added.

(Also see “Pictures: New U.S. Historic Landmarks Named.”)

Watch the Nat Geo Slideshow!

 

Meet Zac Moffatt, The Digital Mastermind Who’s Trying To Take Down The Obama Campaign

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Business Insider -

Mitt Romney is a presidential candidate driven by data, metrics and statistics. So when Zac Moffatt, his campaign’s digital director, threw out these mind-boggling statistics with a plan to reach so-called “off the grid” voters, the campaign began its strategy to reach an ever-growing portion of the electorate.

“He’s a numbers guy. He’s metrics driven,” Moffatt told Business Insider on Tuesday in an interview at the Public Democracy Forum in New York. “Show him a number and if he agrees, it’s a pretty easy decision to make.”  

Here’s a number he showed him: During one fall week in Ohio, 40 percent of people did not watch live television, according to Republican digital strategic consulting firm Targeted Victory.

Moffatt asks the question: Can we ignore 2 million voters and still win?     More