Very Rare White Penguin Spotted in Antarctica!

In a sea of black and white penguins waddling on Antarctica's Aitcho Islands, National Geographic Explorers spotted an extremely rare, nearly all-white Chinstrap penguin this week.

David Stephens, a naturalist on board the Lindblad Expeditions' National Geographic Explorer ship, snapped the photo above of the rare leucistic bird, which he described on their blog as "whitish, but not quite an albino."

Leucistic penguins, sometime referred to as albinistic penguins, have a reduced level of pigmentation and are set apart from albinos due to their pigmented eyes, according to National Geographic. Their "washed-out" coloring clearly distinguishes them from the traditional black and white coat of the Chinstrap penguin.
It's so rare to find nearly all-white penguins, Stephens noted, because the birds' black and white coloring serves as crucial camouflage while diving for fish. Still, the leucistic penguins manage to breed normally, according to Stephens.

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SONY SS-AR2 Loudspeakers

Sony debuted its SS-AR2 Loudspeaker, furthering the line established last year with the introduction of its award winning and critically acclaimed predecessor, the SS-AR1.

“Sony has been committed to high resolution music since its inception,’ noted Charles Speidel, vice president of Sony Electronics Home Audio Video business, “The R-series of loudspeakers are designed to recreate music as faithfully as possible, delivering an unparalleled listening experience for those devotees who truly care about music.”

Signature sound starts with source materials

The key to the R-series’ superb sound reproduction is the precise control of the inevitable vibrations created by sound waves. Created through exhaustive processes testing countless samples and configurations, the AR1 and AR2 loudspeakers feature a final front cabinet baffle laminated to a thickness of 50 mm and 40 mm respectively from hand-selected maple cultivated from Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, whose cold climate produces maple of a tight grain, contributing markedly to the R’s beautiful sound. The front baffle couples with Nordic birch, another cold climate wood with an extremely tight grain, to project the most ideal sound reverberation properties.

Design drives performance

Like the SS-AR1, the SS-AR2’s cabinet design was developed as deftly as its base materials. The bass reflex port is optimally positioned to ensure the twin woofers drive accurately and with synchronous timing, controlling back radiation and to help eliminate sound distortion. Two thick birch partitions and a small air cavity create a well-insulated enclosure inside the cabinet, separating the midrange and tweeter from the woofers, further isolating woofer back-radiation. Curved birch side panels subtly shape sound frequencies, eliminating “standing waves” and enabling clean, pinpoint imaging. Finally, gracefully curved edges on the baffle board diffuse frequencies of diffraction, producing an exceptionally vivid soundstage.

An extension of the R-Series line of loudspeakers

Like its larger sibling, the SS-AR2 loudspeaker is a 4-unit, 3-way floor-standing vented box speaker system. The SS-AR2’s incorporated drivers support a maximum input power of 100 watts through a 25 mm (one inch) soft dome, a 130 mm (five inch) sliced-paper cone and a 165 mm (six and a half inches) aluminum cone (double-drive system), producing a frequency response from 42 Hz to 60kHz. The units weigh in at 84 lbs. and have a spectacular piano finish.

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Consumer Electronics Show 2012 Showcase

The DISH Hopper HD DVR system, including a pair of companion Joey set-top boxes, are displayed during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 9, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The unit comes with a 2 TB hard drive and can record up to six TV shows at once and can display up to four different shows in four different rooms in a home at the same time.

A Behringer Mini Blue rechargeable Bluetooth speaker is displayed during  International Consumer Electronics Show January 8, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The speaker will be available in the second quarter of 2012 for USD 99.

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Celebrities at Auto Expo 2012

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata (Left) and his successor Cyrus Mistry (Right) pose with the new Tata Safari Storme car at the 2012 India Auto Expo in New Delhi on January 5, 2012.

Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan poses with the newly launched Mercedes-Benz concept A.

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