A Speaker Made to Take a Dunking

The Ecorox speaker produces a pleasing mono sound, pumps out sufficient bass, and floats, so dropping it in the pool won't damage it.

The Ecorox Bluetooth speaker is poised to make a splash. After all, it's waterproof.

The small, rugged speaker, slightly larger than a box of animal crackers, is from manufacturer Grace Digital Audio, and has a metal mesh speaker grill on top and rubber bumpers around the sides.

The front panel has simple controls, buttons for power, volume, advance and rewind, and a handy Bluetooth button that makes it easy to sync with a phone, tablet or laptop. There is also a phone button that allows you to use the Ecorox as a speakerphone.

The Ecorox produces a pleasing mono sound, and it pumps out sufficient bass - more than I would have expected. But it does not produce a great deal of volume. So while it may be good for personal outdoor listening, it's not up to rocking a beach blanket disco.

And while it does indeed float, it does not float with the speaker facing up. Dropping it in the pool won't damage it, but because its speakers point to the pool bottom, you can't just let it drift alongside your floating lounger if you want to hear it.

The Ecorox does, however, have a quarter-inch screw mount, like one you would find on a camera. If you are ambitious, you could mount it above the water line on your chair, deck, paddle board or what have you.

The body of the Ecorox is a charcoal black but the wire mesh accents are available in black, red and orange. The speaker is available online through the Ecoxgear Web site for $130.

Q&A: Signing Out of Facebook

Q.

I seem to stay logged into Facebook even when I quit Firefox. Why is this?

A.

Facebook has a small “Keep me logged in” checkbox at the top of the page where you sign in, so you may be continually signed into the site if that box is checked. If it is, log out of Facebook manually by clicking the gear-shaped icon in the top-right corner and choosing Log Out from the menu. Once you have signed out, remove the check from the “Keep me logged in” box.

You may also want to delete the browser cookie for Facebook and restart Firefox, to make sure you stay logged out. You should check that Firefox is not set up to restore your previous browsing session.

As an alternate approaches, using a Firefox add-on, Facebook Auto-Logout, automatically logs you out of your account. You can also sign out remotely from one computer when logged into another computer by using Facebook itself.

An Innovative Design for Nabbing Dust Bunnies

The AirRam cordless vacuum cleaner from Gtech.

Gtech, a maker of floor-care and garden products in Britain, is setting its sights on the United States with the introduction here of its latest vacuum, the AirRam.

The AirRam, invented by the company's founder, Nick Grey, combines the simplicity of a cordless vacuum with the power of an electric vacuum. This is thanks to an efficient, compact design that eliminates tubes and bags and incorporates a professional-grade lithium-ion battery.

The battery takes four hours for a full charge, which lasts up to 40 minutes, enough time to clean four rooms. But you can get a 10-minute charge after only an hour, which is perfe ct for a small apartment like mine.

At seven and a half pounds, the AirRam is light, making it easy to push across a carpet or hardwood floor. And disposing of the vacuumed dirt and dust is easy, too, because the AirRam compresses it into tiny bales that can be plucked from the vacuum's waste tray. The filters inside are washable, so no need to buy replacements.

The AirRam, which costs $350 and is available at Brookstone, collects data like how many calories were burned while vacuuming and how much electricity was saved (Gtech says the AirRam uses only 100 watts of electricity). You access this via a USB port in the battery; unfortunately, Gtech does not supply a USB cable. But who really wants that information anyway? All you really want to know is how well the AirRam works.

Gtech claims that the AirRam outpaces comparable offerings from Dyson. I couldn't test this, but it sure had more power than my stick vacuum from Electrolux. It sucked up all the dirt, crumbs and cat hair under my couch with one pass.

It has a jam indicator, too, which I found out when I accidentally ran the AirRam over the sleeve of a dress shirt and it was quickly pulled in. The vacuum shut off immediately, and a flashing LED indicated there was a jam. The half of the shirt hanging out the bottom was a clear sign, too.

But the AirRam is awfully loud, like a blender grinding up rocks. I wondered if my neighbors thought I was dragging a cement truck across my floor. I know my cat didn't like it; she darted under the bed and wouldn't come out for an hour.

The AirRam is a smart innovation, but Mr. Grey needs to design a muffler for the motor.

Immigration Campaign to Target 11 House Republicans

One of the largest coalitions of immigrant, labor and voter groups supporting an immigration overhaul said it will wage “all-in throw-down” campaigns in July in the districts of seven Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, and four lawmakers in purple districts that could become Democratic in future elections.

Leaders of the coalition, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, and the Service Employees International Union, one of the most active unions working to pass the overhaul, said they would spend more than $1 million on radio ads, telephone banks and social media drives in the districts.

They will focus on the House leadership, including Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, Eric Cantor of Virginia, Kevin McCarthy of California and Peter Roskam of Illinois, as well as three other top Republicans: Darrell Issa of California, Greg Walden of Oregon and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.

Other Republicans the groups will focus on as possible swing votes are Buck McKeon of Clifornia, Mike Coffman of Colorado, Daniel Webster of Florida and Michael Grimm of New York.

Coalition leaders said focusing on those districts would be part of a nationwide campaign to push House lawmakers to hold a vote before the end of this month on a broad immigration bill that would include a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. The campaign would also concentrate on Republican districts in California and Texas and in districts with many Latino voters in Central Florida, they said.

“We need a vote on citizenship,” said Eliseo Medina, international secretary-treasurer of the service sector union, the S.E.I.U. “The immigrants deserve that, and our country deserves that.”

House leaders have given no sign that a vote on one comprehensive immigration bill is part of their strategy. A broad bill that includes a path to citizenship passed the Senate last week, with 14 Republicans joining 52 Democrats in support. But no similar bill has been introduced in the House. The House Judiciary Committee is preparing four immigration bills, but none of them include legalization for undocumented immigrants. Mr. Boehner has tipped his hand only to say that any bill must pass with a majority of Republican votes.

Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, a central organization in the coalition, said many immigrant communities were spurred to action after House Republicans passed a measure last month to halt a program giving reprieves from deportation to young undocumented immigrants, which has been very popular in those communities.

“House Republicans have already gone a long way in stoking our families’ outrage,” Mr.Bhargava said.

But the leaders said they would appeal to Republicans’ long-term political interests. Although the number of House districts with significant numbers of Latino and immigrant voters is not more than 40 (out of 435), it is large enough to cost House Republicans their majority in elections next year if they repel those voters by blocking the overhaul, Mr. Medina said.

“The G.O.P. day of reckoning is not far-off in the future, it is now,” he said.

Carlos Duarte, the state director in Texas for Mi Familia Vota, a Latino voter registration group, said that aside from town-hall meetings and other activities during July, the organization would continue to court new Latino voters. Mr. Duarte said the group registered more than 40,000 Latinos in Texas who voted for the first time in 2012.

Both Texas senators, Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, voted against the Senate bill.

“I think they made a mistaken political calculus,” Mr. Duarte said. “We are no! t going a! way any time soon.”

Immigration Campaign to Target 11 House Republicans

One of the largest coalitions of immigrant, labor and voter groups supporting an immigration overhaul said it will wage “all-in throw-down” campaigns in July in the districts of seven Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, and four lawmakers in purple districts that could become Democratic in future elections.

Leaders of the coalition, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, and the Service Employees International Union, one of the most active unions working to pass the overhaul, said they would spend more than $1 million on radio ads, telephone banks and social media drives in the districts.

They will focus on the House leadership, including Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, Eric Cantor of Virginia, Kevin McCarthy of California and Peter Roskam of Illinois, as well as three other top Republicans: Darrell Issa of California, Greg Walden of Oregon and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington.

Other Republicans the groups will focus on as possible swing votes are Buck McKeon of Clifornia, Mike Coffman of Colorado, Daniel Webster of Florida and Michael Grimm of New York.

Coalition leaders said focusing on those districts would be part of a nationwide campaign to push House lawmakers to hold a vote before the end of this month on a broad immigration bill that would include a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. The campaign would also concentrate on Republican districts in California and Texas and in districts with many Latino voters in Central Florida, they said.

“We need a vote on citizenship,” said Eliseo Medina, international secretary-treasurer of the service sector union, the S.E.I.U. “The immigrants deserve that, and our country deserves that.”

House leaders have given no sign that a vote on one comprehensive immigration bill is part of their strategy. A broad bill that includes a path to citizenship passed the Senate last week, with 14 Republicans joining 52 Democrats in support. But no similar bill has been introduced in the House. The House Judiciary Committee is preparing four immigration bills, but none of them include legalization for undocumented immigrants. Mr. Boehner has tipped his hand only to say that any bill must pass with a majority of Republican votes.

Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, a central organization in the coalition, said many immigrant communities were spurred to action after House Republicans passed a measure last month to halt a program giving reprieves from deportation to young undocumented immigrants, which has been very popular in those communities.

“House Republicans have already gone a long way in stoking our families’ outrage,” Mr.Bhargava said.

But the leaders said they would appeal to Republicans’ long-term political interests. Although the number of House districts with significant numbers of Latino and immigrant voters is not more than 40 (out of 435), it is large enough to cost House Republicans their majority in elections next year if they repel those voters by blocking the overhaul, Mr. Medina said.

“The G.O.P. day of reckoning is not far-off in the future, it is now,” he said.

Carlos Duarte, the state director in Texas for Mi Familia Vota, a Latino voter registration group, said that aside from town-hall meetings and other activities during July, the organization would continue to court new Latino voters. Mr. Duarte said the group registered more than 40,000 Latinos in Texas who voted for the first time in 2012.

Both Texas senators, Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, voted against the Senate bill.

“I think they made a mistaken political calculus,” Mr. Duarte said. “We are no! t going a! way any time soon.”

An Innovative Design for Nabbing Dust Bunnies

The AirRam cordless vacuum cleaner from Gtech.

Gtech, a maker of floor-care and garden products in Britain, is setting its sights on the United States with the introduction here of its latest vacuum, the AirRam.

The AirRam, invented by the company’s founder, Nick Grey, combines the simplicity of a cordless vacuum with the power of an electric vacuum. This is thanks to an efficient, compact design that eliminates tubes and bags and incorporates a professional-grade lithium-ion battery.

The battery takes four hours for a full charge, which lasts up to 40 minutes, enough time to clean four rooms. But you can get a 10-minute charge after only an hour, hich is perfect for a small apartment like mine.

At seven and a half pounds, the AirRam is light, making it easy to push across a carpet or hardwood floor. And disposing of the vacuumed dirt and dust is easy, too, because the AirRam compresses it into tiny bales that can be plucked from the vacuum’s waste tray. The filters inside are washable, so no need to buy replacements.

The AirRam, which costs $350 and is available at Brookstone, collects data like how many calories were burned while vacuuming and how much electricity was saved (Gtech says the AirRam uses only 100 watts of electricity). You access this via a USB port in the battery; unfortunately, Gtech does not supply a USB cable. But who really wants that information anyway? All you really want to know is how well the AirRam works.

Gtech claims that the AirRam outpaces comparable offerings from Dyson. I couldn’t test this, but it sure had more power than my stick vacuum from Electrolux. It sucked up all the dirt, crumbs a! nd cat hair under my couch with one pass.

It has a jam indicator, too, which I found out when I accidentally ran the AirRam over the sleeve of a dress shirt and it was quickly pulled in. The vacuum shut off immediately, and a flashing LED indicated there was a jam. The half of the shirt hanging out the bottom was a clear sign, too.

But the AirRam is awfully loud, like a blender grinding up rocks. I wondered if my neighbors thought I was dragging a cement truck across my floor. I know my cat didn’t like it; she darted under the bed and wouldn’t come out for an hour.

The AirRam is a smart innovation, but Mr. Grey needs to design a muffler for the motor.

Q&A: Signing Out of Facebook

Q.

I seem to stay logged into Facebook even when I quit Firefox. Why is this?

A.

Facebook has a small “Keep me logged in” checkbox at the top of the page where you sign in, so you may be continually signed into the site if that box is checked. If it is, log out of Facebook manually by clicking the gear-shaped icon in the top-right corner and choosing Log Out from the menu. Once you have signed out, remove the check from the “Keep me logged in” box.

You may also want to delete the browser cookie for Facebook and restart Firefox, to make sure you stay logged out. You should check that Firefox is not set up to restore your previous browsing session.

As an alternate approaches, using a Firefox add-on, Facebook Auto-Logout, automatically logs you out of your account. You can also sign out remotely from one computer when logged into another computer by using Facebook itself.

Q&A: Signing Out of Facebook

Q.

I seem to stay logged into Facebook even when I quit Firefox. Why is this?

A.

Facebook has a small “Keep me logged in” checkbox at the top of the page where you sign in, so you may be continually signed into the site if that box is checked. If it is, log out of Facebook manually by clicking the gear-shaped icon in the top-right corner and choosing Log Out from the menu. Once you have signed out, remove the check from the “Keep me logged in” box.

You may also want to delete the browser cookie for Facebook and restart Firefox, to make sure you stay logged out. You should check that Firefox is not set up to restore your previous browsing session.

As an alternate approaches, using a Firefox add-on, Facebook Auto-Logout, automatically logs you out of your account. You can also sign out remotely from one computer when logged into another computer by using Facebook itself.