Testy Debate in Mass. Senate Race Over Term Limits

BOSTON â€" The final debate in the Massachusetts Senate race took a surprising turn Tuesday night when Gabriel Gomez, the Republican candidate, said that he had told Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican, that “he should be term-limited.”

Mr. Gomez favors term limits and has vowed that if elected, he would serve only two six-year terms.

Mr. McCain, who came to Massachusetts last month to help Mr. Gomez raise money, clearly does not believe in term limits. He was first elected to the Senate in 1986 and has served four six-year terms. He has not announced whether he will seek re-election in 2016.

Mr. Gomez, a newcomer to statewide politics, has frequently pointed out the value of term limits as he casts his Democratic opponent, Representative Edward J. Markey, who was first elected to the House in 1976, as a relic of the past.

During their third and final debate on Tuesday night, as the candidates got to question each other, Mr. Gomez said to Mr. Markey: “You’ve been down there for 37 years. And the President’s got term limits. Don’t you believe that Congressmen and Senators should be term-limited?”

Mr. Markey, 66, responded by chiding Mr. Gomez, 47, for a bit of hypocrisy.

“Mr. Gomez, you just had John McCain in campaigning for you three weeks ago,” Mr. Markey said. “Did you ask John McCain to leave the Senate?” And, he wondered, did Mr. Gomez also tell Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentu! cky, the Republican leader who sent out a fundraising letter for Mr. Gomez, it was time to leave the Senate?

“No, Mr. Gomez, you did not,” Mr. Markey said, his voice filled with the conviction of a parent who knows his child has not washed his hands.

“Yes I did, sir,” Mr. Gomez piped up.

“No you did not,” Mr. Markey responded. “You did not tell John McCain that you don’t think he belongs in the Senate anymore as you were praising him at that press conference.”

Mr. Gomez: “I did,” adding later: “Just to be frank, I did tell Senator John McCain that he should be term-limited.”

Mr. Markey was having none of it. “Mr. Gomez did not tell John McCain, ‘This should be your last term, you should just be leaving right now.’ That never happened. That conversation did not happen. I think everyone here knows he did not tell McCain right now he should be finishing his career at the end of this term.”

At this point, the debate moderator stepped in to noe that Mr. Gomez had just said he did say such a thing to Mr. McCain and asked Mr. Markey, “Are you calling him a liar?”

Mr. Markey skirted that question, but repeated his assertion: “I’m saying that did not happen.”

The moderator turned to Mr. Gomez and asked, “Did that conversation happen?”

“It absolutely did happen,” Mr. Gomez responded. “So if you want to call me a liar, that’s fine, Congressman Markey, because that’s effectively what you’ve been doing with all these TV ads.”

After the debate, after numerous calls and emails to his office, Mr. McCain sent a message out on Twitter supporting Mr. Gomez.

“Of course I discussed issue of term limits w/ @GomezForMA when campaigning in #MASen- we disagree on that issue but agree on many others,” Mr. McCain wrote.

The protracted discussion about Mr. McCain allowed both candidates in this increasingly nasty race to suggest that the other was not telling the truth. It also helped them crys! tallize t! heir main campaign themes.

Mr. Gomez used the exchange to note that he disagrees with his party on certain issues â€" immigration and expanded background checks for gun purchases, for example â€" and that he would go to Washington to try to change it. “Nothing’s going to change if Mr. Markey wins this election,” he said.

Mr. Markey used it to link Mr. Gomez with the national Republican Party, which is fairly unpopular in deep-blue Massachusetts.

“He says he’s a new kind of Republican, he’s going to go down there and change business as usual,” Mr. Markey said. “The Republican Party supports taking way a woman’s right to choose; Mr. Gomez says he could vote for a Supreme Court justice that would do that,” he said, suggesting Mr. Gomez would not change much at all.

The special Senate election, to replace John Kerry, who stepped down to become Secretary of State, is Tuesday. Recent polls have shown Mr. Markey with a lead of about 11 or 12 percentage points.

Biden Touts White House Progress on Guns

Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with Stephen Barton, a survivor of the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., on Tuesday at a White House event on gun control.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. resumed the White House’s campaign for gun control on Tuesday by reporting on executive action taken unilaterally by the Obama administration and pressing Congress to take up the legislation again.

“We have not given up,” Mr. Biden said at an event at the White House. He said the administration had completed or made progress on 21 of 23 promisedactions that it could take without Congressional approval and he argued that lawmakers would eventually come around, too.

“We need Congress to act,” he said. “The American people are demanding it.” He warned the senators who blocked legislation that would expand background checks that the political winds had shifted in the six months since the school shootings in Newtown, Conn. “The country has changed. You will pay a price, a political price, for not getting engaged.”

Mr. Biden, who appeared with a survivor of the movie theater shootings in Aurora, Colo., said the administration had moved to incorporate information from 17 states into the national background check database that had been missing, and worked to ensure that Medicaid would treat mental health care as it does physical health care. He also said the administration was releasing guidelines for how schools could better protect their children from an attack like the one in Newtown.

“Each of these measures I out! lined today would reduce gun violence,” Mr. Biden said.

Zapping Bugs With the Wave of a Racket

Zapping mosquitoes with an electrified tennis racket might seem to be a surefire entrant into the World’s Dumbest Ideas Hall of Fame.

But the Stinger Portable Bug Zapper actually works. You swing the light plastic racket at a flying bug while holding down a switch on the handle that puts 3000 volts of electricity through the strings. The result: a satisfying pop and a sizzle and one less mosquito in the world.

It’s fun to use and gives children something useful to do during backyard parties. And should those children inevitably use the zapper on themselves or on others, as children are wont to do, the tiny shock they get does little more than give them a moment of frisson.

The top of the rubberized frame is squared off so it can be effectively used along ceilings and in corners where particularly pesky bugs can take refuge.

Powered by two C batteries, the gray and yellow zapper racket costs about $13 at Walmart, Home Depot and a number of online stores.

A Tiny Amp for Power-Hungry Headphones

Nuforce, a maker of audio electronics, has come up with a mini-headphone amplifier, the MMP, which stands for Mobile Music Pump. Using it to increase the power of your music player may improve the sound quality.

Of course, this is a phenomenon known to every stereo sales representative. If you want a customer to buy a particular component, play it slightly louder than those it’s being compared with. For some reason the louder one is almost always perceived as sounding better.

There are certainly cases when more power is better; more power can increase how precisely an amp can move a speaker, which makes the bass tighter and overall fidelity higher. There isn’t enough information in the specifications to know if that applies to the MMP.

In a test, the MMP certainly increased volume. The difference in sound quality, when noticeable at all, seemed a very subtle improvement over music played directly from an iPod. The MMP does not include the digital-to-analog processing that other Nuforce products use to make digital music sound more natural.

Where this mini-amp can help is in running a big set of over-the-ear pro headphones from something like an iPod. Some of those headphones require more power than the average digital player puts out. “If you have some headphones that are harder to drive, an amp could definitely help,” said Jason Stoddard, a co-founder of Schiit Audio, which makes professional-level headphone amplifiers.

How do you know if you need more power? Check your headphone spec sheet for “sensitivity.” If the sensitivity is around 90 db at one milliwatt, or a lower number, Mr. Stoddard said, you might benefit.

Of course, it’s also a matter of taste. If your headphones aren’t loud enough, the MMP will change that. Keep in mind, though, that loud headphones can damage your hearing.

The $60 MMP is about the size of two large matchbooks, has settings for 3X and 5X amplification, and has two 3.5-millimeter output jacks, so you can share the gift of hearing loss with a friend.

Wireless Charging on the Go for the iPhone 5

The PowerSnap Kit from Duracell.

Duracell wants to make sure you never have to beg for a phone charger or hunt for a power outlet again.

The copper-top battery maker recently introduced a charging case for the iPhone 5 that works with its Powermat, a charging station for mobile devices that was introduced in 2009.

The Powermat charges devices that are laid on it through inductive technology. Unfortunately, that technology has yet to be incorporated into Apple devices, so Duracell has come up with the PowerSnap Kit, which includes an AccessCase and a SnapBattery, both designed for the iPhone 5.

The case comes in two parts: the top snaps on the phone and the bottom includes a Lightning connector. They clip together, but a single unit would have been better. The case feels fragile, as if it would crack easily if the phone were dropped.

Once encased, the phone will charge when placed on a Powermat. A magnet ensures the phone is aligned properly; the mat chirps when the alignment is correct, and again when the phone is removed. I was able to fully charge my phone on the Powermat in two hours.

If a Powermat is not available, the SnapBattery is a capable backup. It attaches to the back of the AccessCase, adding a little bulk but also more protection. It was a little tricky to slide into place, but once it was there, it held firm. The battery can be charged on a Powermat or via a USB cable.

The PowerSnap Kit costs $100; it is available on Duracell’s e-commerce site and at other retailers. The Powermat is sold separately, but Duracell has partnerships with sporting arenas and airports to install Powermat stations that are free to use.

Duracell is also testing the Powermat in Starbucks locations in the Boston area. On a recent trip to Boston, I took the opportunity to check out the Powermat stations, which were inlaid in a long table inside a Starbucks. They worked remarkably well, even the one that was cracked, charging my phone the instant I laid it down.

Duracell is negotiating with wireless carriers to incorporate the technology inside smartphones, but it faces competition. Wireless charging stations could become as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi hot spots, but it remains to be seen whether Powermat will dominate.

Q&A: Fixing an iPad Home Button

Q.

The Home button on my iPad doesn’t work consistently. Since the button is vital to getting around the tablet, can it be easily repaired?

A.

If the Home button is acting up, there are a few troubleshooting steps for determining if this is a software or hardware issue before you proceed with any repairs. Apple’s online support guides for the iPad include a five-step plan for unresponsive tablets and instructions for resetting the device, which may help clear up any software glitches with the Home button.

Some iPad owners have claimed that “recalibrating” the Home button helped with their slow-responding hardware. To try this, open one of the iPad’s own apps like Notes, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button at the top of the tablet until the “Slide to power off” screen appears and then hold down the Home button for several seconds until the app on the screen closes. While some iPad owners found the procedure useful, others have reported only a temporary change in button behavior, or none at all.

If the Home button’s balkiness seems more mechanical in nature, taking the iPad to the Genius Bar in an Apple Store for diagnosis or exploring Apple’s other service offerings online are among the repair options. If your iPad is out of warranty and you do not live near an Apple Store, independent repair shops like iResQ offer Home-button replacement services by mail. iFixit.com and other do-it-yourself sites have steps for the technically fearless as well, but proceed at your own risk.

Apple has two workarounds in the iOS software that may help in a pinch with an unreliable Home button. The iPad’s software (iOS 5 and later) includes a “multitasking gestures” setting that lets you use your fingers and thumb on the screen instead of pressing the Home button for certain tasks; instructions for using the gestures are available online. You can also put a virtual Home button and other controls right on the iPad screen by tapping the Settings icon; tapping General, then Accessibility; and turning on the AssistiveTouch function. More information about AssistiveTouch is on Apple’s Web site.

Q&A: Fixing an iPad Home Button

Q.

The Home button on my iPad doesn’t work consistently. Since the button is vital to getting around the tablet, can it be easily repaired?

A.

If the Home button is acting up, there are a few troubleshooting steps for determining if this is a software or hardware issue before you proceed with any repairs. Apple’s online support guides for the iPad include a five-step plan for unresponsive tablets and instructions for resetting the device, which may help clear up any software glitches with the Home button.

Some iPad owners have claimed that “recalibrating” the Home button helped with their slow-responding hardware. To try this, open one of the iPad’s own apps like Notes, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button at the top of the tablet until the “Slide to power off” screen appears and then hold down the Home button for several seconds until the app on the screen closes. While some iPad owners found the procedure useful, others have reported only a temporary change in button behavior, or none at all.

If the Home button’s balkiness seems more mechanical in nature, taking the iPad to the Genius Bar in an Apple Store for diagnosis or exploring Apple’s other service offerings online are among the repair options. If your iPad is out of warranty and you do not live near an Apple Store, independent repair shops like iResQ offer Home-button replacement services by mail. iFixit.com and other do-it-yourself sites have steps for the technically fearless as well, but proceed at your own risk.

Apple has two workarounds in the iOS software that may help in a pinch with an unreliable Home button. The iPad’s software (iOS 5 and later) includes a “multitasking gestures” setting that lets you use your fingers and thumb on the screen instead of pressing the Home button for certain tasks; instructions for using the gestures are available online. You can also put a virtual Home button and other controls right on the iPad screen by tapping the Settings icon; tapping General, then Accessibility; and turning on the AssistiveTouch function. More information about AssistiveTouch is on Apple’s Web site.

A Small Subwoofer With Case-Busting Bass

The normal formula of high fidelity says bigger speakers equal more bass, but Sunfire has turned that calculus on its head with the Atmos subwoofer. Designed by the physicist and audio rule-breaker Bob Carver, the Atmos is about the size of five or so stacked hardback books.

Packing powerful bass into a box measuring roughly 8.5 inches by 9 inches by 10 inches and weighing 32 pounds was technologically daunting.

For one thing, the device has a built-in 1400-watt amplifier, which would normally produce a lot of heat and require big cooling fins. The company said a circuit called a “tracking down converter” constantly adjusts the current so the Atmos draws no more than it needs to move the drivers, resulting in little excess heat. After about 40 minutes of play at modest volume, the Atmos was still cool to the touch.

Another problem the company faced was that the two 6.5-inch drivers move enough air to cause air pressure changes of as much as 50 pounds per square inch in the small cabinet; that was enough to break apart the composite wooden cases used for prototypes. To withstand the pressure changes, the final Atmos cabinet chassis was made of extruded aluminum.

Finally, even at 32 pounds, the subwoofer vibrated powerfully enough for it to walk around the floor. The tire manufacturer Goodyear was enlisted to produce rubber feet that would keep the device stuck in place.

Playing a variety of music, the Atmos put out enough bass that the gain had to be turned to a low setting not to overpower the rest of the system. It has a nice tone, taut and well controlled.

The drawback is that this serious engineering costs serious greenbacks; list price is $2000. That also means it won’t be widely available. You’ll have to search out a high-end boutique audio shop if you want to hear it yourself.

The Early Word: Rematch

Today’s Times

• Although some in the party wanted to steer clear of divisive social issues after the last election, Republicans in Washington and in state capitals across the country seem eager to reopen the emotional fight over abortion, Jeremy W. Peters writes. Advocates on both sides say the chance to limit abortion in the near future is very real.

• The Supreme Court ruled that Arizona may not require documentary proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections there, Adam Liptak reports.

• Advocates of the immigration legislation insist that this time will be different from 2006 and 2007 â€" when the passage of legislation was supposed to be inevitable â€" but they are facing an experienced, battle-tested opponent in Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, Jonathan Weisman reports.

• When the House begins work on a farm bill this week, conservatives will target the growing food stamp program, which they say is rife with waste, Ron Nixon reports. But critics say they are overlooking other farm programs, like the crop insurance program, which has had several recent fraud cases.

Around Washington

• Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is holding down the fort while President Obama is away, delivering remarks at the White House on the administration’s plan to reduce gun violence.