Cable Freedom Is a Click Away

Evan Sung for The New York Times Danielle Bilton, the writer's wife, using a wireless mouse called the Loop to operate the couple's television set.Welcome to our living room. Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. Would you like to watch a movie, or the new “Family Guy” episode? Oh, that, over there. You want to know why there’s a pile of gadgets and wires on the floor? My wife and I usually don’t talk about...

Hamstrung by Delays, Fitbit Explains and Tries to Deliver

Nicholas Cole was determined to shed a few pounds after the holiday season. So when he heard about a nifty new fitness device called the Fitbit Tracker, a wearable sensor that tracks movement, distance traveled and calories burned, he decided to take the plunge and order one. That was 13 months ago. Mr. Cole is still waiting for the $99 gadget to arrive, as are legions of other eager customers. “I haven’t heard anything...

The Challenge of Indian Art

What is art? Is it a purely utilitarian object with some trappings of decoration, or is it pure aesthetics which has absolutely no purpose whatsoever than to appeal, rather hedonistically if you will, to the senses? This debate has raged amongst art circles from the earliest documented periods of art history : from the seminal essays of Alois Riegl to the lines and periods drawn up by...

Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuan Huong

Ho Xuan Huong (1772-1822) was a Vietnamese woman poet born at the end of the Later Le Dynasty (Period 1428–1788: the greatest and longest lasting dynasty of traditional Vietnam) who wrote poems with unusual irreverence and shockingly erotic undertones for her time. She is considered as one of Vietnam's greatest poets, such that she is dubbed "the Queen of Nom Poetry” and has become a cultural...

Mongolia

NextFacts & FiguresMap of MongoliaMap of MongoliaPresident: Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj (2009)Prime Minister: Sanj Bayar (2007)Total area: 604,247 sq mi (1,565,000 sq km)Population (2009 est.): 3,041,142 (growth rate: 1.4%); birth rate: 21.0/1000; infant mortality rate: 39.8/1000; life expectancy: 67.6; density per sq km: 1Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Ulaan Baatar, 804,200Monetary unit: TugrikMore Facts & FiguresFlag of MongoliaIndex 1. Mongolia Main Page 2. Chinese-Russian Treaty 3. Mongolian Democratic RevolutionGeographyMongolia...