Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

(From left) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) outlined plans for the rest of the summer session yesterday. C-SPAN

Despite weeks of partisan fighting over health care, Senate leadership said yesterday they're aiming to confirm a slew of pending executive branch nominees before breaking for the August recess.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) both signaled they were making progress on what the Kentucky Republican said could be "a pretty robust package of nominations that will clear, that will help the administration get up and get running, which has been, as you know, quite a challenge for them."

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) contrasted the pace of confirmations under President Obama, when Republicans were in the minority, to that of Trump's record for the same period. Obama's 206 is "about four for every one" of Trump's 55, he said.

He noted that 84 pending nominees have cleared committees and are "ready to go." Barrasso called on Schumer to drop his nominee blockade as vowed, now that the health care fight was over.

Schumer defended the delays, saying Cabinet slots and high-level positions such as the FBI director deserve a close vetting. "To just rush them through doesn't make much sense," he told reporters.

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But the minority leader said he would honor his pledge to stop dragging the confirmation process out.

"When they weren't doing regular order on health care, we were not going to do regular order on the things they want," Schumer said. "And then they say to us no regular order on the most important thing we're facing. But I always said after health care was over, we'd try to get together on a good package, and we're making good progress in that regard."

Among the pending nominees are Robert Powelson and Neil Chatterjee, two Trump picks for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission whose confirmation would restore the agency to a voting quorum for the first time in months.

Should the White House submit the nomination of Richard Glick, the Democrats' pick to fill another FERC vacancy, to the Senate in the coming days, that could ease the path for Powelson and Chatterjee.

Also awaiting floor votes are: Susan Bodine, Trump's pick to lead U.S. EPA's enforcement office; Annie Caputo and David Wright to join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and Trump's pick to be deputy Energy secretary, Dan Brouillette, who cleared committee last month.

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) recently told Politico he had a hold on Brouillette's nomination over the Trump administration's plans to revive the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

The Senate yesterday voted 66-31 to confirm Kevin Newsom to be a judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which occasionally hears environmental law cases out of Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Newsom, a former solicitor general for Alabama, is Trump's third appeals court appointee. Most recently, he was a partner at Alabama-based Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. He also previously was an associate at the D.C. office of Covington & Burling and a clerk for former Supreme Court Justice David Souter.

Additionally, the Senate confirmed Christopher Wray, to replace fired FBI Director James Comey, by a 92-5 margin.

Senators also approved several Defense picks by voice vote, including: Richard Spencer to be secretary of the Navy; Lucian Niemeyer to be an assistant secretary of Defense; and, Ellen Lord to be undersecretary of Defense for acquisition.

Reporter Amanda Reilly contributed.

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Senate leaders working on 'robust' deal on nominees - E&E News

Below is a list of frequently asked questions and their answers regarding commercial HVAC systems.

What is HVAC?How does my AC work?What type of AC systems are available?How is humidity controlled with an AC system?How do refrigerants deplete the ozone layer?

What is HVAC?

Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment perform heating and/or cooling for residential, commercial or industrial buildings. The HVAC system may also be responsible for providing fresh outdoor air to dilute interior airborne contaminants such as odors from occupants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from interior furnishings, chemicals used for cleaning, etc. A properly designed system will provide a comfortable indoor environment year round when properly maintained.

How does my AC work?

An air conditioner cools and dehumidifies the air as is passes over a cold coil surface. The indoor coil is an air-to-liquid heat exchanger with rows of tubes that pass the liquid through the coil. Finned surfaces connected to these tubes increase the overall surface area of the cold surface thereby increasing the heat transfer characteristics between the air passing over the coil and liquid passing through the coil. The type of liquid used depends on the system selected. Direct-expansion (DX) equipment uses refrigerant as the liquid medium. Chilled-water (CW) can also be used as a liquid medium. When the required temperature of a chilled water system is near the freezing point of water, freeze protection is added in the form of glycols or salts. Regardless of the liquid medium used, the liquid is delivered to the cooling coil at a cold temperature.

In the case of direct expansion equipment, the air passing over the indoor cooling coil heats the cold liquid refrigerant. Heating the refrigerant causes boiling and transforms the refrigerant from a cold liquid to a warm gas. This warm gas (or vapor) is pumped from the cooling coil to the compressor through a copper tube (suction line to the compressor) where the warm gas is compressed. In some cases, an accumulator is placed between the cooling coil and the compressor to capture unused liquid refrigerant and ensures that only vapor enters the compressor. The compression process increases the pressure of the refrigerant vapor and significantly increases the temperature of the vapor. The compressor pumps the vapor through another heat exchanger (outdoor condenser) where heat is rejected and the hot gas is condensed to a warm high pressure liquid. This warm high pressure liquid is pumped through a smaller copper tube (liquid line) to a filter (or filter/dryer) and then on to an expansion device where the high pressure liquid is reduced to a cold, low pressure liquid. The cold liquid enters the indoor cooling coil and the process repeats.

As this liquid passes through the indoor cooling coil on the inside of the heat exchanger, two things happen to the air that passes over the coils surface on the outside of the heat exchanger. The airs temperature is lowered (sensible cooling) and moisture in the air is removed (latent cooling) if the indoor air dew point is higher than the temperature of the coils surface. The total cooling (capacity) of an AC system is the sum of the sensible and latent cooling. Many factors influence the cooling capacity of a DX air conditioner. Total cooling is inversely proportional to outdoor temperature. As the outdoor temperature increases the total capacity is reduced. Air flow over the indoor cooling coil also affects the coils capacity and is directly proportional to the total capacity of an AC system. As air flow increases, the total capacity also increases. At higher air flow rates the latent capacity of the cooling coil is reduced. Indoor temperature and humidity also affect the total capacity of the AC system. As indoor temperatures increase, the sensible capacity also increases. Similarly, as indoor relative humidity increases the latent capacity of the AC system increases. Manufacturers of AC equipment typically provide a performance map of specific equipment to show how total, sensible, and latent capacity change with changing indoor and outdoor temperatures and humidity. Power consumption and energy efficiency are also provided in these charts.

What type of AC systems are available?

Cooling Only Split-System

A split system is a combination of an indoor air handling unit and an outdoor condensing unit. The indoor air handling unit contains a supply air fan and an air-to-refrigerant heat exchanger (or cooling coil), and the expansion device. The outdoor condensing unit consists of a compressor and a condenser coil. Split-systems are typically found in residential or small commercial buildings. These systems have the highest energy efficiency rating (EER) of all the available AC systems. Manufacturers are required to take the EER rating a step further and provide a seasonal energy efficiency rating (SEER) for use by consumers. SEER ratings vary widely and range from 10 to 20. The higher the SEER rating, the more efficient the AC system operates. If heating is required, an alternate method of heating the interior of the building must be used, usually in the form of electric or gas heating.

Cooling Only Packaged-System

A packaged system is a single unit combining all the components described in the split system. Since the unit is a package, it must be placed outside the building and indoor air is ducted from the building to the packaged system and back through an air distribution system. These units typically have SEER rating from 10 to 18. If heating is required, an alternate method of heating the interior of the building must be used, usually in the form of electric or gas heating.

Heat Pump

Heat pumps are similar to cooling only systems with one exception. A special valve in the refrigeration piping allow the refrigeration cycle to be operated in reverse. A cooling only system cools the indoor air and rejects heat to the outdoors. A heat pump can also cool the indoor air, but when the valve is reversed, the indoor air is heated. A supplementary electric resistance heater may also be used to assist the heat pump at lower outdoor temperatures. In colder climates, heat pumps require a defrost period. During defrost times the electric heater is the only means of heating the interior of the building. These units are manufactured as either split or packaged systems.

Chilled Water System

In a chilled water system, liquid water is pumped throughout the building to chilled water coils. Since the liquid water needs to be at a cold temperature, a cooling plant is required. The plant is typically referred to as a chiller plant. Vapor compression equipment in the plant, similar to that described in How does my AC work, cool water to a cold temperature and pump the cold water to air-to-water heat exchangers where needed.

Window Air Conditioners

As the name implies, a window air conditioner is typically installed in a window or custom opening in a wall. The Window AC can only cool small areas and are not intended to provide cooling to multiple rooms or zones. These air conditioners are manufactured as cool only or can provide both cooling and heating. An optional damper in the unit can provide fresh outdoor air if necessary.

Packaged Terminal Heat Pump

How is humidity controlled with an AC system?

Humidity is becoming more of a concern to building operators and owners. High indoor humidity leads to mold and mildew growth inside the building. The are several methods of controlling indoor humidity. The simplest (and most expensive) method is to connect a humidistat to an electric heater. When the humidity inside the building rises above the humidistat set point, the heater is turned on. The additional heat causes the air conditioning system to run longer and remove more moisture.

A more efficient method of controlling humidity is to use the waste heat from the refrigeration cycle itself. Instead of rejecting the waste heat outdoors, the heat is directed inside when humidity control is required. One form of heat reclaim is called hot-gas reheat or refrigerant desuperheating where refrigerant is passed through a heat exchanger located downstream of the cooling coil. The hot high pressure vapor leaving the compressor passes through this heat exchanger prior to entering the condenser coil. This in turn heats the indoor air and again causes the AC system to run longer to meet the thermostat set point. Although more energy is used, this is much more efficient than turning on an electric heater. Another form of heat reclaim is called sub-cool reheat. This strategy takes the warm liquid refrigerant from the condenser and passes it through a heat exchanger located downstream of the cooling coil. Less heat is available using this method because the majority of the heat has already been rejected at the condenser. Since more energy is used to pump liquid (as opposed to a gas) through the heat exchanger it would appear that this method is less efficient than the hot-gas method, however, the liquid in the heat exchanger is sub-cooled in the cold supply air stream which increases the capacity of the air conditioner. Since more capacity is available, the AC units is able to meet the thermostat more quickly.

Heat pipe heat exchangers or run-around coils perform a similar function when humidity control is required. Two heat exchanger are placed in the air stream, one upstream of the cooling coil and the other downstream of the cooling coil. These heat exchangers are connected together with piping. A heat transfer fluid, whether it be water or refrigerant, is either pumped or gravity fed from one heat exchanger to the other. The heat exchanger down stream of the cooling coil (re-heat coil) cools the liquid medium inside the heat exchanger and heats the air passing over the heat exchanger. The cold liquid inside the heat exchanger is moved to the heat exchanger upstream of the cooling coil (pre-cool coil) where it pre-cools the air passing over the heat exchanger and warms the liquid passing through the heat exchanger. The affect of a heat pipe or run-around coil is to reduce the sensible heat capacity of the AC system. The latent capacity of the AC system increases if direct-expansion equipment is used or remains relatively constant if chilled water equipment is used. Since the sensible capacity of the AC system has been reduced, the system must run longer to meet the thermostat set point thereby removing more moisture.

How do refrigerants deplete the Ozone layer?

Refrigerant 22 (R-22 or MonoChloroDiFlouroMethane, CHClF2) is one of the most common refrigerants and is used in a wide variety of applications such as refrigeration, aerosol propellants, cleaning solvents, and foaming agents for plastics. This refrigerant is believed to be partially responsible for damaging the earths ozone layer and its use is being phased out over the next two decades. The ozone layer is a result of sunlight reacting with oxygen to produce a layer in the stratosphere more than 10 km above the earths surface. As R-22 refrigerant escapes from an AC system through leaks or is released into the atmosphere by other means, the R-22 molecule containing the chlorine atom (monochloro) rises in the atmosphere. Sunlight breaks down the R-22 molecule to yield a free chlorine radical (Cl-). The free chlorine radical combines with ozone (O3), decomposing it into normal oxygen (O2).

AC refrigerants come in many varieties. R-22 is the most common, however, due to interactions with the ozone layer R-22 is being phased out. Refrigerants manufactured as replacements for R-22 are HFC-134a, R-410a, R-410b to name a few. The new refrigerants do not contain the chlorine atom and are not harmful to the earths ozone layer.

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HVAC Systems

CORPUS CHRISTI -

How often do you clean and change your furnace and air conditioner filters?

According toenergy.gov, it should happen every month, or as recommended by a licensed contractor which, in our region, could mean even more often.Adirty filter can increase energy costs and damage equipment. Regular maintenance can also help those who battle allergies, by improving the overall air quality in the home.

In addition to a dirty filter, common air conditioner problems include a low or leaking refrigerant, issues with the thermostat or a clogged drain.

The Better Business Bureau often receives complaints against heating and air conditioning businesses nationwide. Most involve issues with guarantees/warranties, customer service and services performed by the business.

When it comes to looking for a trustworthy HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) contractor, the BBB suggests:

Got a question for the BBB? Email Regional Director Kelly Trevino atktrevino@corpuschristi.bbb.org.

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Improve comfort, health and efficiency with HVAC maintenance - KRIS Corpus Christi News

DUBLIN--(Business Wire)--The "Global HVAC Market: Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021)" report has been added to Research and Markets' offering.

HVAC stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. It is a technology used to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. A HVAC system is based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer. HVAC is an important part of residential as well as commercial buildings. The market is filled with different kind of HVAC appliances. Heating appliances like heater, furnace and heat pumps, are used to generate heat in buildings via central heating or local heating. Ventilation appliances are used to change or replace air in any building to regulate temperature. And air conditioning appliances are used in cooling of indoor air for thermal comfort.

HVAC equipments are installed in buildings to achieve heating, cooling and ventilation. HVAC equipments can be broadly segmented into two categories that include residential equipments and commercial equipments. Residential HVAC equipments are used in houses whereas commercial equipments are used in commercial buildings.

HVAC market is likely to witness a growth in future with the rising construction of residential as well as commercial buildings. North America is a major contributor to the global HVAC equipment market supported by increased demand for HVAC systems and accelerating replacement rates of HVAC systems.

The global HVAC market is expected to grow in future due to rising construction activities, increasing population, urbanization and disposable income, climatic changes and decreasing unemployment rate. Key trends of this market include rising trend of smart building, demand for replacements and rising adoption of smart phones. However, there are some factors which can hinder growth of the market including rapid technological changes.

Companies Mentioned

Key Topics Covered:

1. Overview

2. Global HVAC Market

3. Regional Market

4. Market Dynamics

5. Competition

6. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5s565j/global_hvac

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170802005760/en/

Research and MarketsLaura Wood, Senior Managerpress@researchandmarkets.comFor E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716Related Topics: HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning)

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Global HVAC Market - Industry Analysis & Outlook (2017-2021) - HVAC Market to Grow with Rising Trend of Smart ... - Digital Journal

New VR portfolio, including the worlds first professional wearable VR PC, makes HP the partner of choice for immersive customer experiences

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 1, 2017 HP today announced a unified approach and commercial solutions for virtual reality (VR), positioning itself as the partner of choice for businesses looking to reduce concept to production cycle times, improve training procedures and deliver fully immersive customer experiences. As part of this strategy, the company is unveiling the worlds first professional wearable VR PC1 the new HP Z VR Backpack. Crafted to bring the full potential of VR to-life, it is the worlds most secure and manageable wearable VR PC2ever created.

Virtual reality is changing the way people learn, communicate and create,said Xavier Garcia, vice president and general manager, Z Workstations, HP Inc.Making the most of this technology requires a collaborative relationship between customers and partners. As a leader in technology, HP is uniting powerful commercial VR solutions, including new products like the HP Z VR Backpack, with customer needs to empower VR experiences our customers can use today to reinvent the future.

The opportunities for commercial VR are limitless for businesses in product design, architecture, healthcare, first responder training, automotive and entertainment. Emerging technologies like VR create breakthrough experiences for customers from reinventing the buying experience in automotive showrooms to changing the way hospitals train their staff.

HPs Winning Approach to VR

HPs approach to virtual reality is founded upon its rich history of product innovation and deeply rooted customer relationships. HP works as an extension of its customers businesses, which enables it to deliver the most immersive technologies that help businesses lead their industries. HP technology not only provides commercial-grade reliability, but also established world-class partnerships that bring together the complete VR ecosystem with Intel, NVIDIA, Technicolor, HTC Vive and others.

The company is investing in immersive virtual and augmented reality technologies to give customers and partners superb tools for commercial VR use cases. This effort solidifies HPs long-term commitment to VR and helping customers use VR to reinvigorate their business. Thirteen immersion centers will open later this year in Palo Alto, Houston, Boise, Fort Collins, Stockholm, London, Paris, Barcelona, Boeblingen, Beijing, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore, and have been designed so customers can have an immersive experience using HP VR technology and receive consulting and learn how to best deploy VR devices within their business to streamline workflows.

The Mobility to Transform HP Z VR Backpack

TheHP Z VR Backpacksolution provides the freedom to move and maintain total immersion with high-octane visual performance and docking capabilities that transform it into a manageable, powerful desktop PC experience. The HP Z VR Backpack is a catalyst for more powerful VR experiences across many enterprises and businesses including the following use case examples:

With the workstation-class HP Z VR Backpack, the full potential of VR is brought to-life. HPs fully immersive and untethered VR Backpack is light with an ergonomic backpack design and hot swappable batteries to provide unrestricted freedom within an immersive experience. It has high-end processing power and the latest high-fidelity graphic solution to help prevent disruptive dropped frames so users can work in VR for as long as needed. The IntelCore i7 vPro processor provides the power to process applications quickly and includes the vPro chipset. The HP Z VR Backpack is the first wearable VR PC in the market with the NVIDIAQuadroP5200 with a huge 16GB video memory3. Finally, itsdocking solutionlets digital creators quickly transition back and forth between high powered desktop for content design and wearable VR PC to validate creations. The HTC Vive Business Edition HMD (sold separately) is part of the HP VR portfolio. HP Z VR Backpack is scheduled to be available in September starting at $3,299 USD. The datasheet is availablehere.

The HP VR Product Portfolio

HPs versatile, high-powered devices empower customers to create and consume VR content. HPs commercial grade products are designed for mission critical business applications that require high levels of security, manageability, reliabilty and ISV certified applications.

TheHP ZBook 17 Mobile Workstationdelivers ultimate power and performance and can be configured with the optimal horsepower and graphics solutions to bring VR content to-life in an ultra-smooth 90 FPS VR experience.

HP Z Desktop Workstationsare designed to create visually stimulating, accurate and compelling VR content. HP Z Workstations desktops feature the latest processors and graphics cards and are built to stay quiet, cool and reliable for graphic-intensive tasks.

TheHP EliteDesk 800 G3 Tower, a VR-certified PC, features high performance and expandability in a stylishly redesigned 26 percent smaller chassis for the modern workplace. It is ideal for companies wanting to future-proof their technology and deliver state-of-the-art capabilities.

TheOMEN X Compact Desktopbrings gamers an immersive experience. The factory-overclocked GPU from NVIDIA and versatile form factor means it can dock and undock quickly for gaming anywhere or can be used as a backpack for an untethered consumer VR gaming experience.

Project Mars

HP alsoannouncedHP Mars Home Planet, a project in partnership with NVIDIA, Technicolor, Fusion, Autodesk, Unreal, Launch Forth and Vive. The collaboration will create a global online co-creation community to reinvent life on Mars for one million humans, in virtual reality.

Glenn is a geographer and a GIS professional with over 20 years experience in the industry. He's the co-founder of GISuser and several other technology web publications.

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HP Debuts Virtual Reality Solutions and Services for Businesses - GISuser.com (press release)

Foundation Building Materials (NYSE: FBM) and Apogee Enterprises (NASDAQ:APOG) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitabiliy, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Foundation Building Materials and Apogee Enterprises net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.0% of Foundation Building Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Apogee Enterprises shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Apogee Enterprises pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Foundation Building Materials does not pay a dividend. Apogee Enterprises pays out 19.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Foundation Building Materials and Apogee Enterprises top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Apogee Enterprises has higher revenue, but lower earnings than Foundation Building Materials.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Foundation Building Materials and Apogee Enterprises, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Foundation Building Materials presently has a consensus price target of $19.86, indicating a potential upside of 65.20%. Apogee Enterprises has a consensus price target of $64.67, indicating a potential upside of 23.34%. Given Foundation Building Materials higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Foundation Building Materials is more favorable than Apogee Enterprises.

Summary

Apogee Enterprises beats Foundation Building Materials on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

Foundation Building Materials Company Profile

Foundation Building Materials, Inc. is a specialty distributor of wallboard and suspended ceiling systems in the United States and Canada. The Companys segments include Specialty Building Products and Mechanical Insulation. The Company fabricates and distributes its products for specialty contractors seeking to improve or maintain energy efficiency in a range of commercial and industrial buildings. It serves markets across the United States and in Canada. Specialty building products segment distributes wallboard and accessories, metal framing, suspended ceiling systems and other products. Other products include stucco and Exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS), as well as offerings, such as tools, safety accessories and fasteners. Its Mechanical insulation segment includes insulation solutions for pipes and mechanical systems and the primary end markets served are new non-residential construction, non- residential repair and remodel construction and industrial markets.

Apogee Enterprises Company Profile

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. is engaged in the design and development of glass solutions for enclosing commercial buildings and framing art. The Company operates through four segments: Architectural Glass, Architectural Services, Architectural Framing Systems and Large-Scale Optical Technologies (LSO). The Architectural Glass segment fabricates coated glass used in customized window and wall systems. The Architectural Services segment designs, engineers, fabricates and installs the walls of glass, windows and other curtainwall products making up the outside skin of commercial and institutional buildings. The Architectural Framing Systems segment designs, engineers, fabricates and finishes the aluminum frames used in customized aluminum and glass window, curtainwall, storefront and entrance systems. The Large-Scale Optical Technologies segment manufactures glass and acrylic products for the custom picture framing and fine art markets.

Receive News & Ratings for Foundation Building Materials Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Foundation Building Materials Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

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Head to Head Review: Foundation Building Materials (NYSE:FBM) and Apogee Enterprises (APOG) - BNB Daily (blog)

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HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced a unified approach and commercial solutions for virtual reality (VR), positioning itself as the partner of choice for businesses looking to reduce concept to production cycle times, improve training procedures and deliver fully immersive customer experiences. As part of this strategy, the company is unveiling the worlds first professional wearable VR PC1 - the new HP Z VR Backpack. Crafted to bring the full potential of VR to-life, it is the worlds most secure and manageable wearable VR PC2 ever created.

Virtual reality is changing the way people learn, communicate and create, said Xavier Garcia, vice president and general manager, Z Workstations, HP Inc. Making the most of this technology requires a collaborative relationship between customers and partners. As a leader in technology, HP is uniting powerful commercial VR solutions, including new products like the HP Z VR Backpack, with customer needs to empower VR experiences our customers can use today to reinvent the future.

The opportunities for commercial VR are limitless for businesses in product design, architecture, healthcare, first responder training, automotive and entertainment. Emerging technologies like VR create breakthrough experiences for customers from reinventing the buying experience in automotive showrooms to changing the way hospitals train their staff.

HPs Winning Approach to VR

HPs approach to virtual reality is founded upon its rich history of product innovation and deeply rooted customer relationships. HP works as an extension of its customers businesses, which enables it to deliver the most immersive technologies that help businesses lead their industries. HP technology not only provides commercial-grade reliability, but also established world-class partnerships that bring together the complete VR ecosystem with Intel, NVIDIA, Technicolor, HTC Vive and others.

The company is investing in immersive virtual and augmented reality technologies to give customers and partners superb tools for commercial VR use cases. This effort solidifies HPs long-term commitment to VR and helping customers use VR to reinvigorate their business. Thirteen immersion centers will open later this year in Palo Alto, Houston, Boise, Fort Collins, Stockholm, London, Paris, Barcelona, Boeblingen, Beijing, Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore, and have been designed so customers can have an immersive experience using HP VR technology and receive consulting and learn how to best deploy VR devices within their business to streamline workflows.

The Mobility to Transform HP Z VR Backpack

The HP Z VR Backpack solution provides the freedom to move and maintain total immersion with high-octane visual performance and docking capabilities that transform it into a manageable, powerful desktop PC experience. The HP Z VR Backpack is a catalyst for more powerful VR experiences across many enterprises and businesses including the following use case examples:

With the workstation-class HP Z VR Backpack, the full potential of VR is brought to-life. HPs fully immersive and untethered VR Backpack is light with an ergonomic backpack design and hot swappable batteries to provide unrestricted freedom within an immersive experience. It has high-end processing power and the latest high-fidelity graphic solution to help prevent disruptive dropped frames so users can work in VR for as long as needed. The Intel Core i7 vPro processor provides the power to process applications quickly and includes the vPro chipset. The HP Z VR Backpack is the first wearable VR PC in the market with the NVIDIA Quadro P5200 with a huge 16GB video memory3. Finally, its docking solution lets digital creators quickly transition back and forth between high powered desktop for content design and wearable VR PC to validate creations. The HTC Vive Business Edition HMD (sold separately) is part of the HP VR portfolio. HP Z VR Backpack is scheduled to be available in September starting at $3,299 USD. The datasheet is available here.

The HP VR Product Portfolio

HPs versatile, high-powered devices empower customers to create and consume VR content. HPs commercial grade products are designed for mission critical business applications that require high levels of security, manageability, reliabilty and ISV certified applications.

The HP ZBook 17 Mobile Workstation delivers ultimate power and performance and can be configured with the optimal horsepower and graphics solutions to bring VR content to-life in an ultra-smooth 90 FPS VR experience.

HP Z Desktop Workstations are designed to create visually stimulating, accurate and compelling VR content. HP Z Workstations desktops feature the latest processors and graphics cards and are built to stay quiet, cool and reliable for graphic-intensive tasks.

The HP EliteDesk 800 G3 Tower, a VR-certified PC, features high performance and expandability in a stylishly redesigned 26 percent smaller chassis for the modern workplace. It is ideal for companies wanting to future-proof their technology and deliver state-of-the-art capabilities.

The OMEN X Compact Desktop brings gamers an immersive experience. The factory-overclocked GPU from NVIDIA and versatile form factor means it can dock and undock quickly for gaming anywhere or can be used as a backpack for an untethered consumer VR gaming experience.

Project Mars

HP also announced HP Mars Home Planet, a project in partnership with NVIDIA, Technicolor, Fusion, Autodesk, Unreal, Launch Forth and Vive. The collaboration will create a global online co-creation community to reinvent life on Mars for one million humans, in virtual reality.

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HP, Inc. (HPQ) Presents Virtual Reality Solutions & Services for ... - StreetInsider.com

CITY CENTRE Surreys homeless along 135A Street have a water fountain, once again.

A Surrey woman who runs a soup kitchen met the Now-Leader on Surreys infamous Strip Wednesday morning after the city installed a temporary fountain for the homeless.

In late June, Erin Schulte was disappointed after she noticed the absence of a water fountain the city had installed in the past during heat waves.

It was simply hooked up to a fire hydrant.

Schulte launched an online petition that garnered close to 800 signatures calling on Surrey Fire Services and city hall to put it back.

Schulte, who visits the Strip almost every day to distribute food and lots of water, said the homeless were begging her to try to get it back.

They were out of energy, she said. They were lying on the ground. People with heat stroke. People really, really sunburnt. We go overseas and we do wells for third-world countries to get them access to fresh water. Although theres a sink inside the front room theres 200 or more people on this Strip.

The city said its reason for not installing the fountain this summer was because water was available through service providers and they could mobilize very quickly if the homeless were not getting water quickly enough. The city also cited health issues, specifically people bathing there in years past, as another reason it had yet to be installed.

But on July 26, the water fountain was installed, much to Schultes excitement.

The citys bylaw enforcement officer Jas Rehal told the Now-Leader the city has been monitoring the situation and given the extended forecast, we had the fountain installed to ensure there is adequate water supply.

Surrey's homeless no longer have to endure the heatwave without a water fountain. Meet Erin Schulte who started a petition urging the city to put back a water fountain that garnered hundreds of signatures. See more: http://www.surreynowleader.com

Standing at the freshly installed water fountain, which also has a spout for people to fill up water bottles or buckets, Schulte could barely contain her happiness.

Asked what she wanted to say to the city, she replied, Thank you.

She only wishes it was done earlier.

I just wish that they felt the same way that I did about the people down here because then this would have been here a month ago. Its a small effort, she said. We already had all the equipment, we already have the manpower to install it and the cleaning supplies are really at a minimum to keep it in good condition. Again, I think its just dragging feet and politics and things taking so long. Its a necessity. Its clean water. This is a big city. Were building all over the place. The least that we can do is give our most lost some dignity and some access.

She doesnt credit her petition as the reason the city put the fountain back.

I would like to think the right thing would have been done regardless, she told the Now-Leader. If you spend any amount of time down here with these people, you see how bad of condition they are later in the afternoon, when the sun is at its hottest. They already have to put their tents down so there isnt a lot of shade. As you can see theres not a lot of trees. There just isnt the ability to hide away in the heat. Its definitely necessary.

Schulte acknowledges its impossible to guarantee no one abuses the water fountain. And that was part of the citys reasoning for not installing it when the Now-Leader inquired about the fountains absence last June.

Back in 2015, she said people were abusing it, but added theres the mentally ill down here and theres people who really just dont know any better.

What I can promise the city is that there are people in place down here who have said they will monitor the fountain.

One is the same lady that takes it upon herself to bleach out the porta-potties for the homeless community, said Schulte.

The homeless have put together a plan, she noted, later adding, Theres a lot of of people really worried this is going to be taken away.

amy.reid@surreynowleader.com

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VIDEO: Advocate thrilled water fountain for homeless put back on Surrey's 135A Street - Surrey Now-Leader

Around 2005, workers renovating the Dallas County Records Building in downtown Dallas removed some tiling on a wall near a drinking fountain and revealed the remnants of an old sign. It read, in faded discolored outlines on the marble wall: White Only.

The revelation was an embarrassment and a reminder that it was not long ago that the sign carried the weight of the law, that public buildings in Dallas were segregated, and by extension, the justice distributed within and rule of law represented by those public buildings was denied to thousands of Dallas residents simply because of the color of their skin. The discovery of the sign was also an uncomfortable reminder that such signs were once ubiquitous in this city, simple perfunctory instructions inserted everywhere into daily life not only to ensure that people of color did not enjoy the full rights, privileges, and protections of American society, but also to attempt to erase people of color from the white experience of that society.

The letters, faded discolorations on marble, could not be erased. They were scars, indelible and unforgettable. The county responded by placing a historical marker on the wall next to the sign to recognize and explain the history of the Jim Crow south. But one Dallas resident, artist Lauren Woods, had another idea. Woods didnt believe that a historical marker was enough, that it couldnt carry the full weight of meaning contained in the fact that the sign had been placed on the wall and was somehow still on the wall of a public building in Dallas. In 2013, Woods was commissioned by the county to turn the water fountain into an art installation as simple and direct as the words on the wall.

Today, when someone presses the button to activate the drinking fountain under the old White Only sign in the Dallas County Records Building, a video projector turns on and a news clip appears that shows little girls being power-sprayed by fire hoses during a Civil Rights demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama. The art installation is as poetic as it is blunt. It doesnt soften the blow of the past, it amplifies it. In a single image, Woods makes explicit the abuse, torture, and hatred that is the real subtext of the White Only sign and exposes the racism that it truly represents: a moral world that attempted to deny and destroy African-Americans very humanity. With that simple gesture, Woods artwork completes and corrects the historical record.

The symbols and artifacts of the past and the nature of the history they convey has once again risen into the citys public discourse. Responding to a national trend that has seen cities and towns across the southern United States reconsider the value and meaning of various monuments to the Confederacy and the Confederate heroes of the Civil War, Dallas has been debating whether it should remove its Confederate monuments, of which two most notably stand out: the statue of Robert E. Lee at Lee Park in Oak Lawn, and the massive Confederate memorial that stands outside the Convention Center at the edge of Founders Cemetery.

The debate has been framed around the question of whether the monuments should stay as they are or be removed. (My colleague Glenn Hunter argued yesterday that they should stay.) I believe the binary nature of that debate sells it short. The monuments are very much like the White Only sign in the Dallas County Records building that is, historical artifacts that convey half-written or poorly written histories. They insert a historical reading into an aesthetic sphere, and so the response to the invalidity of that historical reading must also be aesthetic.

It is important to remember, as others have pointed out, that many of the monuments to the Confederacy erected throughout the South were born of a particular time and are the manifestations of a particular kind of cultural nostalgia, an early 20th-century attempt to come to terms with the complicated, contradictory, and conflicted history of the American South and to rescue from it its unique Southern cultural identity. But in reclaiming the valor of the imagined heroes of the past, the monuments reassert the primacy of the moral vision of that past. And regardless of any nuances of biography and history, the moral vision of the Confederate South was one of white supremacy.

It is impossible to separate that historical reality from the memorials erected in honor of that past, and so it is not at all surprising that African-Americans who have grown up in an America still very much shaped by racism and discrimination would understand those statues as nothing less than implicit conveyers of the power of the racist past extending into the present. Furthermore, to deny the validity of this response to the monuments is to participate in the very act of neutering engendered by the monuments implicit power that is, it is to deny or attempt to erase the validity of the African-American experience of America.

But like the White Only sign, it is not enough to remove these markers. The monuments should not be covered up, but confronted, and as Woods managed to achieve with her water fountain project what is objectionable about these monuments should not be mollified but amplified. Because if we are ever going to come to terms with the reality of racism in America, the history must be confronted in its fullness.

I see two options for achieving this:

The first is to handle the statues exactly as the county handled the White Only sign. The city should commission an artist or artists to create a new work of art that could engage with, re-contextualize, and complete the monuments. I wont venture to guess what this would look like, exactly. Im not an artist. But I believe that, as with Woods and Cynthia Mulcahys Negro parks project, which attempted to bring attention to the complicated history of this citys segregated parks and extend education around their historical research, the monuments offer an opportunity for Dallas to confront that history head on. Artistic approaches to re-contextualizing the monuments presence in the city would amplify the weight of their history while simultaneously symbolically reclaiming the public spaces they loom over for all the people of Dallas. Leaving them alone wont achieve this. They must be co-opted and appropriated. If allowed (and, as a warning, permission was a real obstacle for Woods and Mulcahy with regards to the Negro parks project), good artists can do this, and it is precisely their role in society to do so.

The second option is to remove the monuments and place them in Old City Park, a setting already designated for the preservation and interpretation of the artifacts of Dallas past. Perhaps the monuments could better serve the historical import their defenders impart on them if they were not allowed to lord over Dallas public spaces, but were instead placed alongside the other artifacts of the society that they represent, like the Freedman Town shotgun shanties that already sit in Old City Park and testify to the abject poverty, abuse, and discrimination that was the flip side to the monuments nostalgic glorification of the Old South. But it would not be enough to simply leave the former locations of the monuments vacant. Rather, new monuments, historical markers, or artworks should be erected at the spot of removed Confederate monuments that reference the removal and the historical corrective the removal represents.

(Postscript: after writing the foregoing, I was reminded that Doyle Rader raised some of the same points for D Magazine in 2015.)

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A Better Solution for Dallas' Confederate Statues - D Magazine

The Israeli summer is blistering hot. Yet pedestrians strolling the steaming streets will find little succor from cool free water, because there isnt any. Drinking fountains have all but disappeared from the Israeli street.

There are two main reasons for their disappearance. The first is the successful campaign by bottled water companies, which seem to have persuaded people that paying money for something they can get for free water whose quality is supervised by government is a good idea. The second is that stores, kiosks and restaurants that sell bottled water dont want the competition.

Israel has eight months of summer each year, says city planner Ayal Zaum: Pedestrians need public water fountains as badly as they need shade.

Why arent there laws mandating public drinking fountains in Israel? When asked, the Health Ministry said that while there are standards for installing and maintaining public fountains, there is no requirement to actually have them.

Public drinking fountains are not the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Ministry, nor of the states Water Authority, which referred us to the Interior Ministry. Officials there said that city planning had been reassigned to the Finance Ministry, which suggested that we turn to the Union of Local Authorities, an umbrella organization for local governments. The ULA said it was not aware of any directive requiring communities to provide drinking water in public places.

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Israel is not alone when it comes to the gradual disappearance of public drinking fountains. Its a problem in the United States as well. The International Plumbing Code, which builders use to determine how many bathrooms an office building should have and how pipes should work, has halved the number of drinking fountains required in each building.

In the U.S., consumption of bottled water quadrupled between 1993 and 2012, to 9.67 billion gallons a year.

The snob factor

The real problem is the snob factor, claims landscape architect Michal Halevy Bar, who has been studying the development of water culture over decades: Ordinary tap water has lost status to the gods of bottled water. (She was referring, tongue in cheek, to an ad by one purveyor of bottled water.)

Once, the fountain was a place to relax in the middle of the day drinking, splashing water during heat waves. Strangers and acquaintances could interact. Any fountains around today are almost always clogged. They arent maintained, and there are puddles around them that attract mosquitoes. Who drinks from that? Only cats and dogs. The watering hole has morphed from a place to congregate, into a blight.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines water as the fundamental right on which all human rights depend, Halevy says.

But the water culture in Israel has changed. Even the ancients acknowledged the duty of the sovereign to provide this existential need. Arab cities and Rome too featured public troughs, fed by springs or some other source, going back centuries. Israel has some 400 of these troughs, most of which dont work anymore,

The modern eras first free public water fountain was unveiled in London in 1859. Thousands gathered to watch officials turn on the tap and at its peak it was used by about 7,000 people a day.

By 1930, access to free, healthy tap water in public places was so common that bottled water was disparaged, used only in offices and factories that couldnt afford plumbing. In much of Europe bottled water retained its cache, but the rest of the world began to imitate it starting in the 1970s, when Frances Perrier spent $5 million on an advertising campaign in New York, selling itself as a chic, upscale product. By 1982, U.S. consumption had doubled to 3.4 gallons per person per year.

That culture change, which privatized and commercialized an existential need, while causing ecological damage to boot, gradually reached Israel, too. So, when Israelis are wandering the streets and want a drink, theyre accustomed to buying a bottle.

The mineral water companies have appropriated public natural resources, with the approval of the state. They invented a new business of water consumption while piggybacking on the health trend, Halevy Bar says. Through clever branding, companies have created demand for a natural resource that already exists in the faucet. Moreover, they sell this free product in plastic bottles that are causing global contamination.

Even in the market for bottled water has it own internal snobbishness. The market research firm Euromonitor of the Israeli market found that increasing polarization. Premium brands such as Perrier and San Benedetto and low-cost brands such as Aqua Nova are gaining share, mid-priced brands are dropping.

Consumers are seeking more interesting beverages, and are willing to pay for premium bottled water offering specific value, Euromonitor said.

Infrequent fountains

Meantime, its hard to find a water fountain even in places such as courts, train station and government offices. Maybe its because there are no rules. Or they want to preserve the livelihood of the local kiosk. Malls dont have fountains as a courtesy to the restaurants: The only faucets with free-flowing water are in the restrooms.

Yuval Arica, owner of faucet manufacturer Shaham-Arica, says government bodies buy between 1,000 and 2,000 water fountains a year, some for parks, most for schools, where fountains are a rule (one per every 40 pupils). In fact Arica cant remember the last time he was asked to install a fountain in the street.

But even if they had, Halevy points to a poll showing that not a few parents forbid their kids from drinking from public water fountains. Thats how effective the bottled water companies campaign has been, she says.

However, while fountains have been disappearing, kicky displays featuring water spouting around have been proliferating. Decorative fountains and pools have been delighting the urban citizenry for millennia. Today there are even fountains featuring music and light shows. Another modern trend is ecological pools, which are an imitation of nature, featuring plants and animals that are supposed to keep the water clean, without need to pump through filters or add toxic chlorine.

Landscape architect Asif Berman describes the function of fountains and ponds in cooling down towns in arid climes. Take the Roman city in Israel, Beit Shean, where water installations the empire built for the welfare of its inhabitants were preserved.

Water works like an air conditioner, and when the wind passes through it, it cools far-off places, says Berman.

The latest wrinkle in facilities where water is used for amusement and play. Berman, whose office designed and designed the Beer Sheva beach in the middle of the Negev desert, distinguishes these facilities from pools and fountains: This is water that can be touched.

The most common model is surfaces from which fresh water erupts in gushes. These facilities are so fashionable that they were recently installed in London, between Kingston Station and nearby residential and commercial buildings a bit of a silly gesture given how much it rains there, and in Montreal schools.

Decorative fountains can cost millions of shekels, and their maintenance is costly too. Cities that sport them have to maintain special staff to take care of them.

A standard public drinking fountain costs about 4,000 shekels ($1,000.) A fancy one that cools the water first can come to as much as 15,000 shekels, plus an additional 1,000 shekels a year for maintenance.

In other words, for the price of one fancy decorative fountain, a city could install 150 regular drinking fountains. But they dont, and when the public fountains break down, the cities often simply block them up.

Local governments really should provide their citizens with free drinking water outside, Zaum says: At the very least, water is healthier than sugary drinks. It contributes to equality and to the environment, too. He suggests installing drinking fountains next to places that rent out bicycles. Perhaps these businesses could foot the bill.

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Drinking Fountains Have All but Disappeared From Israel's Streets - Haaretz