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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Porsche Design BlackBerry P'9981 on sale now, but only at Harrods (Digital Trends)
How fitting that RIM and Porsche Design has chosen one of the world?s most famous luxury department stores, Harrods in London, as the exclusive seller of its luxury BlackBerry P?9981 phone.
Announced at the tail end of October but with no firm release date attached, the flashy device has now gone on sale there, where it?s priced at a mere ?1,275, or a touch under $2,000.
That?s SIM-free of course, but admittedly the price would probably only be considered ?mere? by regular Harrods patrons, as it?s considerably more than the standard Bold 9900 on which it?s based.
Like its cheaper cousin, the P?9981 has a 1.2Ghz processor, 768MB RAM, a 2.8-inch 640 x 480 resolution touchscreen and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video recording. It?s separated by that eye-catching design, the brushed metal fascia and the hand-wrapped, all-leather rear panel.
BlackBerry OS 7 has been treated to a Porsche Design makeover too, as it uses a custom UI and has the popular augmented reality app, Wikitude World Browser, pre-installed.
Available with either English or Arabic as the standard language, anyone keen to get their hands on this genuinely exclusive BlackBerry will have to make the journey to Harrods ? or at least their flunky will anyway ? as it?s only available in-store and not online. However, we?re willing to bet they would send one out with your weekly order of Dom Perignon if you asked nicely.
Phonearena.com spoke to a Harrods representative, who described the P?9981 as ?in very high demand and selling fast.?
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
More from Digital Trends
BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 phones are bricking themselves, RIM acknowledges
RIM officially launches BBM music service
HTC profits jump 68-percent, shipments 93-percent over the last year
Porsche Design P?9981 Blackberry Smartphone
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Iowa ad war: late starting but nasty
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, make a stop at his campaign office, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista, make a stop at his campaign office, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry greets local residents during a campaign stop at the Blue Strawberry Coffee Company, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? At least $12.5 million and counting has blanketed the airwaves ahead of next Tuesday's Republican presidential caucuses, with hard-hitting commercials awash in ghoulish images and startling claims. Most are coming from a proliferation of new independent groups aligned with the candidates.
To hear the ads tell it, Newt Gingrich is a "serial hypocrite," Rick Perry "double dips" as governor and the "liberal Republican establishment" is plotting to anoint Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee. The attacks, the bulk of the commercials on the air, reflected the volatile state of the race five days before the first votes of the GOP presidential nominating contest.
After a slow start, the ads in Iowa are coming on fast and furious.
On Thursday alone, at least five new commercials were rolled out, including one by Perry castigating his rivals as Washington insiders and saying: "The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a congressman to fix Washington: bad idea." An outside group aligned with Romney, Restore Our Future, rolled out a new spot that criticizes Gingrich and asks: "Haven't we had enough mistakes?"
In the final days of the Iowa campaign, most of the ads are deeply negative, thanks in large part to the proliferation of outside groups, known as super PACs, that are doing the dirty work for candidates they support. Gingrich has been the biggest target, withering under attacks from Ron Paul and Rick Perry's campaign as well as from several outside groups like the one aligned with Romney. Polls show that Gingrich's standing in Iowa has slid accordingly.
"I call it ad wars whack-a-mole ? this endless attacking in all directions, trying to slam down anyone who is surging to the top," said David Perlmutter, a University of Iowa journalism professor who studies political communication. "This is the most negative I've ever seen it. The ads are so blatantly negative I would have told you 10 years ago this would never fly in Iowa."
It's a different landscape in the campaign advertising world than four years ago when Barack Obama won Iowa's Democratic caucuses and Mike Huckabee carried the Republican side. Social media has intensified the advertising binge, with many spots debuting on TV but also going viral across the web at almost no cost to the campaigns that sponsor them. Candidates are making heavy use of online advertising to target voters based on location and other demographic information.
Campaigns are also producing video specifically for the YouTube audience, like a new 90-second Romney video excerpting a speech Obama delivered in Iowa days before winning the Democratic caucuses in 2008.
"Well, Mr. President, you've had your moment ... this is our time," Romney says in the spot.
On Thursday, Jon Huntsman's campaign ? which can't afford to put commercials on TV and is competing only in New Hampshire ? hit at Paul in a new web video that highlights comments about race and gays in newsletters Paul used to put out. The ad asks: "Can New Hampshire voters really trust Ron Paul?'"
But nothing has altered the environment more than super PACs, which are facing their first test in a presidential campaign since a Supreme Court decision two years ago eased restrictions on campaign spending by corporations, unions and individuals.
Much of $12.5 million spent to date in Iowa, a figure confirmed by ad tracking firms, outside groups and the GOP campaigns, has been spent in just the past few weeks, much of it paying for negative ads.
The pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, has been by far the most influential in Iowa, helping to bolster the former Massachusetts governor's position in the state he lost in 2008, crippling that campaign.
The group formed by Romney allies has spent at least $2.7 million in the state. The vast majority has been used to trash Gingrich, the former House speaker whose sudden surge in the polls earlier this month has been summarily halted in recent days. In ad after ad, Romney's allies have berated Gingrich for ethical "baggage," accepting $1.6 million in consulting fees from federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac and pledging to tackle climate change in an ad with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Another new ad from the group goes after both Gingrich and Perry for being "liberal on immigration."
Perry, the Texas governor, has defended his state's policy of allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities, while Gingrich has spoken out against deporting those who have lived in the U.S. for many years without permission to be in the country.
The ad also chides Perry for taking advantage of a loophole in state law that allows him to supplement his governor's salary with his $90,000 annual pension, even as Perry has used his own ads to rail against congressional salaries.
Romney has stepped up his advertising presence in Iowa, driving a largely positive message while his allies have made it easy for him to avoid attacking his Republican rivals.
"In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense. And I intend to make it because I have lived it," Romney says in a new uplifting 60-second commercial he began airing Thursday.
Gingrich, for his part, has railed against the Romney allies' ad blitz but has refused to respond in kind. A pro-Gingrich super PAC has begun fighting back, running ads in Iowa claiming the Republican establishment is "attacking him with falsehoods."
The ad warns: "Don't let the liberal Republican establishment pick our candidate."
But the assist from the pro-Gingrich group Winning Our Future may be too little, too late. A new CNN-Time poll found Gingrich now in fourth place in Iowa, behind Romney, Paul and Rick Santorum.
Other Republican hopefuls have super PACs that support them, including Perry and Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator has run no ads of his own but has seen his position in Iowa strengthen in recent days in part by $327,000 in ad spending from a super PAC called the Red White and Blue Fund.
Our Destiny, a super PAC backing Huntsman, has run ads in New Hampshire for the former Utah governor. Huntsman is skipping the Iowa caucuses to focus on New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10.
Perry has run the most campaign ads in Iowa, spending at least $3.9 million so far. His ads have offered a smattering of sometimes conflicting messages ? promoting his conservative Christian faith in one to calling for a part-time Congress in another.
"I'm an outsider who will overhaul Washington," Perry says in his latest ad, while pledging anew to end "Obama's war on religion."
Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry super PAC, has also been on the air for weeks in Iowa.
The heavy spending hasn't seemed to help Perry much ? polls have consistently shown him trailing in the state, though he has gained some ground.
Paul has also been on the air for months and has not been shy about hitting his opponents. His latest ad, titled "Washington Machine," hits Gingrich as a "serial hypocrite" and Romney as a "flip flopper."
Cash strapped and struggling in polls, Michele Bachmann will run TV commercials a day before the caucuses. Her campaign has run radio ads and she's sought free media on a bus tour through Iowa's 99 counties.
___
Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in Iowa and Jack Gillum in Washington contributed to this report.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
The 7 Things Your Friends and Family Should Have Gotten You From Amazon [Toolkit]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/U95axrEp-hw/
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Samsung takes a bite out of Apple
As the camera zooms in from a bustling San Francisco street scene, a young woman in thick brown frames and a blue cardigan waits in line, texting as she sings, ?Nine hours down, and we?re almost in the door!?
The scene then shifts to Chicago, where more hip twentysomethings stand in line. A guy in a sweater and red beanie asks, ?If it looks the same, how will people know I upgraded??
More related to this story
The targets of derision in the ad are obvious: Apple Inc., its newest iteration of the iPhone, and the cross-section of its most loyal fans willing to camp out and wait hours to get their hands of the latest gadget from the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant.
The company behind it, though, is slightly less obvious, given its pervasive but understated presence in the global mobile market: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. The commercial eventually shifts, and those waiting in Apple?s lineups see people using slick Samsung phones and blurting out remarks like, ?Whoa, what?s she got there??
The sprawling South Korean company, which makes everything from fridges and washers and dryers to TVs and high-end smartphones and tablets, has struck a newly confident tone.
That Samsung hasn?t been ridiculed itself for the Apple-mocking advertisement is testament to how far the company has come. It is wrapping up a banner year, surpassing Apple to become the world?s largest smartphone manufacturer ? shipping 27.8-million smartphones in the third quarter compared with Apple?s 23.8-million, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. (Apple had only recently overtaken Nokia Corp.)
?Apple doesn?t own innovation and design out there right now,? says Brian Wallace, a vice-president of strategic marketing at Samsung, who joined the company this year from Canadian smartphone giant Research In Motion Ltd. ?It was time to stand up and say, ?Here?s an alternative.? ?
Samsung?s commercial went viral ? it was viewed more than four million times on YouTube. More impressive is the way it has reshaped the wireless phone market, seizing on Google Inc.?s free Android operating system and trying to out-innovate Apple on the hardware front. Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity who tracks hardware manufacturers, said Samsung?s recent growth is likely to continue. He raised his estimate for the company?s fourth quarter by about three million units, and now thinks Samsung will move 34.5-million smartphones in the quarter.
?Samsung?s smartphone share gains are impressive as the company continues to materially grow smartphone sales despite the launch of the iPhone 4S,? Mr. Walkley wrote in a recent note to clients. ?We believe Samsung will extend its Android leadership position during [the fourth quarter] to over 40 per cent of total Android units sold.?
In October, Samsung Electronics announced a 37-per-cent increase in third-quarter revenue from its telecommunications division, driven by strong sales of Samsung Galaxy phones. The unit posted an operating profit of 2.52-trillion won (more than $2-billion Canadian).
Apple remains a force in the smartphone space, of course. Its newest iPhone, though similar to the one that preceded it, came with Siri, the ?digital assistant? that responds to voice commands, and has sold extremely well. Apple has also had some success in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, where Samsung and other lower-cost handset makers like Nokia are much more established. The success of Apple and Samsung has hurt sales at other Android-using smartphone makers, such as Taiwan?s HTC Corp.
In some countries, ?People are looking at these phones as their first computer,? says Paul Brannen, Samsung?s Canadian vice-president for mobile. Samsung?s smartphone revenue in Canada has grown 50 per cent, year-over-year, with unit shipments up 9 per cent, he notes.
Samsung?s growth in both the high- and low-end markets has also further squeezed Waterloo, Ont.-based smartphone giant RIM. In the U.S., RIM has lost ground to high-end devices running Android, but analysts are also noticing a proliferation of cheaper Android phones in emerging markets where RIM has long been dominant.
When asked if RIM could have taken direct aim at Apple with a television commercial like Samsung?s, Mr. Wallace laughs, then falls silent for a few seconds before he replies. ?Do you really expect me to answer that?? the former RIM executive says. ?You can imagine my answer to that. I think there was a time.?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sony, Samsung dissolve joint venture
Japan?s Sony Corp. and South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. are dissolving their joint venture in liquid crystal display panels as Sony tries to stanch years of losses in its TV business.
Sony said Monday that Samsung will buy all of Sony's shares in the joint venture for about 1.08 trillion Korean won ($954-million) subject to a final agreement.
The joint venture called S-LCD was set up in 2004. Sony, which fell behind in flat panel TVs, invested in a Samsung panel factory to ensure a steady supply of panels for its LCD TVs.
Sony?s TV operation has lost money for seven straight years and the company is straining to return that key business to profit.
The prices of TVs as well as panels have been dropping so it makes more sense to buy panels at the market rate than to invest in production.
Sony, which makes Bravia TV sets, does not make its own LCD panels.
It said it will enter a new partnership with Samsung to buy panels, and will also continue buying panels from other manufacturers.
Sony said it will suffer a loss of ?66-billion ($864-million) for the third quarter of this fiscal year, which ends later this month, because of the declining value of investment in S-LCD.
Getting out of the production venture will produce substantial savings after January, 2012, when the deal is completed, according to Sony.
It was still unclear how Sony's profit forecast for the fiscal year through March of 2012 will be affected, company spokesman Takashi Uehara said.
Associated Press
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
5 die of food poisoning at Mexican rehab center (AP)
MEXICO CITY ? Medical officials say five recovering drug addicts died and dozens of others were sickened by soy sausage served for Christmas dinner at a rehabilitation center in western Mexico.
Authorities were investigating whether the poisoning at the center in the city of Guadalajara was accidental or intentional. Drug cartels have taken over rehabilitation centers in parts of Mexico, forcibly recruiting addicts as hit men and smugglers. The invasions have led to mass shootings at the centers that have left dozens dead.
Alhy Daniel Nunez is a spokesman for the Red Cross in the western state of Jalisco, where Guadalajara is located. He said Monday that 37 people remained hospitalized, three of them in serious condition.
(This version CORRECTS numbers in first paragraph).)
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Take My Advice
In June, a woman wrote about the impending funeral of her beloved great-aunt. She said her aunt had always been a vibrant person and wanted to put the ?fun? in funeral when her time came: party hats, confetti, a bonfire. The niece wanted to carry out these wishes, but the other older relatives were threatening to boycott the funeral. I suggested that it wasn?t fair for someone to dictate from beyond the grave that people who are grief-stricken party and celebrate, and that a more traditional funeral, followed by an Irish-wake-style get-together, would work better. I heard back from the niece, who said she read both her letter and my response to her dying aunt. The aunt liked my advice and told her niece a traditional funeral would be fine, and that she?d like if everyone got together for a party the following day. The aunt died three days after the letter was published. The niece wrote: ?We had a rather subdued funeral, but the next day we had a wonderful barbecue. Pictures were pulled out of attics and everyone shared memories. We cried, we laughed, but mostly, we celebrated Auntie?s life!?
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Forums: Custom backplate giveaway, iPhone 4S insurance, wallpaper challenge, guitar interfaces, holiday recipes
It’s the holidays and the forums are bursting at the seems with cheer… and more! If you happened to miss out on any of today’s or this weekends events make sure you get caught up either here on the blogs or in the TiPb forums — and stay tuned...
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NBA season finally set to tip off on Christmas
Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, left, and Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, right, hug before an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, left, and Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul, right, hug before an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles on Monday, Dec. 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) prepares to dunk the ball as Los Angeles Lakers' Andrew Bynum, lower left, Devin Eubanks (3) and Derek Fisher, back right, watch during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
New York Knicks' Amare Stoudemire, second from left, Baron Davis, third from left, Carmelo Anthony, second from right, and Tyson Chandler, right, cheer on teammates from the bench in the closing seconds of the Knicks' 88-82 win over the New Jersey Nets in an NBA preseason basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Finally, the conversation changes.
It's time for the NBA to ditch the dollars and nonsense of the lockout for the alleys and oops in Lob City, the new nickname for the suddenly exciting Los Angeles Clippers.
For months, all the talk was about lockouts, salary caps and mediation. Now there are games that count as a new season begins Christmas Day.
For all practical purposes, Clippers fans have been locked out of competitive basketball for the better part of three decades. Now they get entertainment of the highest order ? watching Blake Griffin throw down lob passes from Chris Paul.
The 2011-12 season, shortened to 66 games, debuts Sunday when five marquee games will be played from morning deep into the night. This marks a first step for the league as it looks to bury a damaging offseason marred by a five-month labor dispute and several stars trying to force their way out of town.
The day begins with Boston and New York and then goes to an NBA Finals rematch with Miami at Dallas. Next up is Chicago at the Lakers, followed by the small-market special ? Orlando at Oklahoma City ? before CP3 makes his regular-season debut as a Clipper at Golden State in the nightcap.
"The lockout was hectic for everybody," Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley said. "We were bored! Now we feel like we've got a purpose in life. We can do what we do best."
It's time.
It's time for Derek Fisher to be seen in Lakers gold, not Brooks Brothers gray.
It's time for postgame news conferences with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, not post-meeting sessions with David Stern and Adam Silver.
It's time for Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks to defend their title on the court, not for Jeffrey Kessler and the players' union to defend their decision to disband in the courts.
"I don't even want to talk about the lockout any more, man!" Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant said. "It was just so frustrating to go through that and everything that went on, us meeting and not meeting and not coming to an agreement and fans getting upset with us. It was tough. But I'm glad we got through it."
It didn't look so good for a while. Once the dispute was finally settled, a whole new drama broke out with Paul and Dwight Howard looking for trades out of New Orleans and Orlando.
Howard eventually softened his stance, but his future is still the focus in Orlando.
"I don't think our situation is going to go away," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "But I think it'll be a lot more focused on the games than there has been (focus) on the lockout."
The Lakers thought they had a deal for Paul, but Stern, acting as the owner of the Hornets, nixed that, and another crisis was born. The Clippers swooped in at the end, seizing some of the spotlight from Kobe and the Lakers for the first time since, well, ever.
"Hey, that's got to be driving Kobe," Lakers Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said. "That should drive (Pau) Gasol and (Andrew) Bynum and those guys and Derek Fisher to say, 'Hey, no way I'm going to let them take over Los Angeles.'"
The two teams met twice in the preseason, and the rivalry quickly escalated. Bryant injured his wrist on a hard foul in the first game and Lakers agitator Matt Barnes shoved Griffin to the court in the second game.
That wasn't the only miniseries infused with more intensity and energy than any exhibition game in recent years.
The Timberwolves were buoyant after finishing their second game against the Bucks with a 12-0 run to finish the preseason 2-0. James and Quentin Richardson were seen trading shoulder blocks all the way down the floor in Miami's preseason finale against Orlando.
"That's our sanctuary. When we get out between the lines and we're playing, that's all that matters," Richardson said. "And that's definitely our escape from anything going on, or anything negative or anything like that."
The melodrama surrounding Paul's request to be traded from New Orleans could have ripple effects throughout the Western Conference. The Lakers have been grousing since losing out on Paul and sending Lamar Odom to Dallas, but they weren't the only team hurt by that decision.
The Rockets had agreed to send Kevin Martin and Luis Scola to the Hornets as part of a three-team deal that would have landed them Gasol. Instead, they had to abandon any designs on signing Nene, go with Sam Dalembert in the middle and do some serious damage control with Scola and Martin.
While all the drama was unfolding, the Thunder have been playing the role of the young, hungry contender, ferociously working while no one was watching and preparing to throw nothing but haymakers as soon as the bell rings.
The Heat are back for another run at the title. James, Wade and Chris Bosh had the whole league against them after a presumptuous welcome ceremony on South Beach. But the spotlight hasn't been quite as bright while everyone has been looking toward the Clippers and Magic, where Howard's wishes seem to change by the day.
"It's good to see other guys around the league get that attention," Wade said. "I think they got enough of us last year. It's good to see other teams, other franchises, get that spotlight for a while. Hope they enjoy it."
The fan hunger is there as well. The Clippers sold out their game against the Lakers, and the first in that series was the most viewed preseason game in NBATV history.
The Timberwolves had 15,000 people attend their home preseason game against the Bucks, and another 2,500 turned out for a free practice on a Monday afternoon just to get a glimpse of Ricky Rubio.
More than 10,000 fans watched a free practice with the New York Knicks, and the Thunder's rabid fan base packed the arena for Durant's return to the court.
"We had to sacrifice a little bit of time and there were some harsh words thrown our way, but at the end of the day, everybody got what they wanted, which was basketball," Durant said. "That's what we worked hard for, is to play the game of basketball. We had to work the business part out and now we're just back to basketball."
Let the games begin.
___
AP Sports Writers Tim Reynolds in Miami, Anne M. Peterson in Portland, Ore., Kyle Hightower in Orlando, Fla., and freelance writer Murray Evans in Oklahoma City contributed to this story.
___
Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http:www.twitter.com/APkrawczynski.
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Another Soyuz rocket launch fails
23 December 2011
Last updated at 08:50 ET
Russia's recent poor launch record has continued with yet another Soyuz rocket failure.
This time, a Soyuz-2 vehicle failed to put a communications satellite into orbit after lifting away from the country's Plesetsk spaceport.
Debris is said to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near the western Siberian town of Tobolsk.
In August, a Soyuz failure on a mission to resupply the space station led to a six-week suspension of flights.
Friday's rocket was carrying a Meridian-5 satellite, designed to provide communication between ships, planes and coastal stations on the ground, according to RIA Novosti.
It was a Soyuz-2.1b, the most modern version of the rocket that has been in service in various forms since the 1960s.
The failure is said to have occurred seven minutes into the flight. Sources being quoted by the Russian media talk of an anomaly in the rocket's third stage.
"The satellite failed to go into its orbit. A state commission will investigate the causes of the accident," the spokesman of Russia's space forces, Alexei Zolotukhin, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
August's botched launch involved a Soyuz-U. An inquiry into that incident eventually traced the problem to a blocked fuel line, again in the third stage of the vehicle. But the U and 2.1b Soyuz variants use different engines in this segment of the rocket, so no immediate parallels between the two incidents can be drawn.
Friday's failure now puts a major question mark against the next Soyuz launch, scheduled for 26 December from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This flight is intended to put in orbit six satellites for the Globalstar satellite phone company.
And it will raise concern again among the partners on the International Space Station (ISS) that there may be systematic problems in the Russian launch sector.
Following the retirement of the American space shuttle in July, the Soyuz rocket is the only means of getting astronauts and cosmonauts to the ISS. August's failure saw manned flights stand down even longer than the six weeks for unmanned Soyuz rockets, and the hiatus put a severe strain on the operation of the space station.
Russia has experienced a number of launch mishaps in the past 13 months.
On 18 August, the week before the loss of the space station mission, a Proton vehicle failed to put a communications satellite in its proper orbit.
Back on 1 February, a Rokot launch also underperformed with a similar outcome.
And on 5 December last year, a Proton carrying three navigation spacecraft fell into the Pacific Ocean. This particular failure is widely believed to have contributed to the decision of the Russian government to replace the then space agency chief, Anatoly Perminov.
Vladimir Popovkin took over as the head of Roscosmos in April.
The rocket failures come on top of the loss of Phobos-Grunt, Russia's most ambitious planetary mission in decades. It became stuck in Earth orbit after its launch in November and will probably fall back to Earth next month.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16317099
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BC-FBN--NFL Concussions-Miami,1st Ld-Writethru, FBN
MIAMI (AP) ? Nearly two dozen former NFL players are suing the league over severe and permanent brain damage they say is linked to concussions suffered on the job.
The complaint filed Thursday in Miami follows a similar one in Atlanta earlier this week. It is the latest in a series of recent lawsuits against the NFL by ex-players.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of ex-Miami Dolphins teammates Patrick Surtain, Oronde Gadsden and 19 other players. It accuses the NFL of deliberately omitting or concealing years of evidence linking concussions to long-term neurological problems.
The NFL denies the charges and says player safety has long been a priority.
The players claim the NFL made misrepresentations about the seriousness of their injuries "with the intent of inducing NFL players, including Plaintiffs, to return to play as soon as physically possible after having suffered a football-related concussion and to promote an aggressive style of football that would attract viewers."
According to the lawsuit, following numerous studies on the risks of concussions, the NFL created a committee of researchers and doctors in 1994 to study concussions.
The committee was supposed to be independent, but members were affiliated with NFL, the lawsuit said, and the group did not include a doctor specializing in neurology or other brain research. When the committee published its findings in 2003, it stated "there was no long term negative health consequence associated with concussions," according to the complaint.
The former players are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.
The lawsuit notes that in 2010, the NFL replaced the leaders of its research committee, and that the new leadership described the data used in the past by the NFL to counter the long-term effects of concussions as "infected" and lacking in science.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Chinese 'water army' hijacks online product reviews
Bob Holmes, consultant
Looking for online product reviews before you buy holiday gifts? Watch your step. Many of those "user reviews" may come from professionals paid to post favourable comments about their employers' products and denigrate their competitors', says a computer scientist who worked undercover in the industry.
Fortunately, though, there may be a way to spot the fakery automatically.
Cheng Chen of the University of Victoria, Canada, worked as a paid poster in China's "Internet water army", so-called because its soldiers flood websites with posts about particular products. In a paper posted on arXiv, Chen and his colleagues describe how project managers organise teams of paid posters, supplying them with comments and video clips to post, and setting rules for when and how often to post, so that they avoid appearing part of a coordinated campaign.
To see if they could recognise paid posters despite this deception, Chen's team focused on online comments relating to a dispute between two Chinese antivirus companies. The researchers sifted through two months' worth of comments on one of China's leading internet news sites and pulled out 552 users who commented on the antivirus companies. Based on his experience in the industry and the contents of their posts, Chen suspected 70 of these might be paid posters.
These suspected paid posters had a higher proportion of new comments (as opposed to replies), posted more often but for a shorter period of time, and were more likely to post similar comments several times than posters not suspected of being paid.
Sure enough, when the researchers applied these criteria to comments on a second news site, the suspected paid posters they flagged matched Chen's subjective classification with a false-positive rate of 1 per cent and a false negative rate of 10 per cent. With a little more refinement, the algorithm could lead to software that screens comments automatically, they say.
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Sea cucumbers: Dissolving coral reefs?
ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2011) ? Coral reefs are extremely diverse ecosystems that support enormous biodiversity. But they are at risk. Carbon dioxide emissions are acidifying the ocean, threatening reefs and other marine organisms. New research led by Carnegie's Kenneth Schneider analyzed the role of sea cucumbers in portions of the Great Barrier Reef and determined that their dietary process of dissolving calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the surrounding reef accounts for about half of at the total nighttime dissolution for the reef.
The work is published December 23 by the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Reefs are formed through the biological deposition of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Many of the marine organisms living on and around a reef contribute to either its destruction or construction. Therefore it is crucial that the amount of calcium carbonate remain in balance. When this delicate balance is disrupted, the reef ceases to grow and its foundations can be weakened.
In order to fully understand a reef's ability to deposit carbonate and grow, it is necessary to understand the roles that the various elements of sea life play in this process. This is especially important because increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is predicted to decrease the amount of carbonate available due to acidification.
The research group set out to examine the role that sea cucumbers play in the reef environment.
Schneider's team included Carnegie's Ken Caldeira, as well as Jacob Silverman, of the Israeli Limnology and Oceanography Institute; Maria Byrne and Erika Woolsey, both of the University of Sydney and the latter also from James Cook University; and Hampus Eriksson of Stockholm University.
They studied the growth and dissolution of One Tree Reef, which surrounds One Tree Island in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Focusing on an area of the reef known as "DK13," they found that sea cucumbers were abundant. They collected some of these sea cucumbers and placed them in aquaria to study the effect on sea water resulting from the sand and rubble transported through their gut system as part of their digestive process.
As part of another ongoing study in this area, the team found that the coral reef was dissolving at night. They found that sea cucumbers play a crucial part in this process. They live off the bits of organic matter in the carbonate sand and rubble that they ingest; in this process, their digestive systems produce acids that dissolve parts of these carbonate minerals. The dissolved carbonate minerals are then released into the surrounding environment. The researchers found that these lowly organisms might be responsible for half of the CaCO3 of the reef observed at night.
The burning of coal, oil, and gas releases CO2 into the atmosphere, which is later absorbed by the ocean, causing the ocean to acidify. Ocean acidification is expected to slow reef growth. With slower reef growth, the dissolution of CaCO3 within the guts of sea cucumbers is expected to become even more important to the reef CaCO3 budget.
"Even though the sea cucumbers dissolve CaCO3 on the reef, in a lagoon such as the one at One Tree Reef, where there is limited seawater exchange with the surrounding ocean, they can be important in recycling of nutrients to support primary productivity. They also increase sea water buffer capacity to partially offset ocean acidification effects, helping to maintain the overall health of the coral reef," Schneider said. "Although sea cucumbers may play a part in reef dissolution, they are also an important part of an incredible marine environment."
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Friday, December 23, 2011
FAA issues rules to prevent tired airline pilots
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, with Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Michael Huerta, speak to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, with Federal Aviation Administration Acting Administrator Michael Huerta, speak to reporters during a news conference at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011, announcing a sweeping final rule that overhauls commercial passenger airline pilots scheduling to ensure pilots have a longer opportunity to rest before they enter the cockpit. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rules aimed at preventing airline pilots from flying while dangerously fatigued were issued Wednesday by the Federal Aviation Administration, a move safety advocates have been urging for more than two decades.
The rules update current pilot work schedule regulations, which largely date back to the 1960s, to reflect studies on how much time pilots need for rest and an understanding of how travel through time zones and the human body clock's response to light and darkness can affect performance.
Carriers have two years to adapt to the new rules. The FAA estimated the cost to industry at $297 million over 10 years, a fraction of the $2 billion a year that an airline trade association had estimated a draft proposal released by FAA over a year ago would cost.
The airline industry had opposed the draft rule as too costly for the safety benefits it would achieve. But FAA officials made substantial changes to the final rule to lower the cost. Several expensive reporting and training requirements were eliminated.
The new rules come nearly three years after the deadly crash of a regional airliner flown by two exhausted pilots. Family members of the 50 people killed in the accident near Buffalo, N.Y., have lobbied relentlessly for more stringent regulations.
The rules should be named in honor of those families who pushed successfully for action, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a news conference. "This is a big deal," LaHood said. "This is as far as our government has ever gone" to protect the traveling public from pilot fatigue.
The rules would limit the maximum number of hours a pilot can be scheduled to be on duty ? including wait time before flights and administrative duties ? to between nine and 14 hours. The total depends upon the time of day pilots begin their first flight and the number of time zones crossed.
The maximum amount of time pilots can be scheduled to fly is limited to eight or nine hours, and pilots would get a minimum of 10 hours to rest between duty periods, a two-hour increase over the old rules. Pilots flying overnight would be allowed fewer hours than pilots flying during the day.
But cargo carriers ? who do much of their flying overnight when people naturally crave sleep ? are exempted from the new rules. The FAA said forcing cargo carriers to reduce the number of hours their pilots can fly would be too costly compared to the safety benefits.
Imposing the rules on cargo airlines like Federal Express or United Parcel Service would have added another $214 million to the cost, FAA officials said.
The exemption for cargo carriers runs counter to the FAA's goal of "one level of safety" across the aviation industry. Pilots unions were critical of the exemption, pointing out that cargo pilots suffer from fatigue the same as pilots for passenger-carrying airlines. And, while cargo planes aren't carrying passengers, the risk to the public on the ground from an air crash is just as great.
"To potentially allow fatigued cargo pilots to share the same skies with properly rested passenger pilots creates an unnecessary threat to public safety. We can do better," said Robert Travis, president of the Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS pilots.
LaHood said he plans to invite top officials from cargo airlines to meet with him next month so that he can urge them to voluntarily follow the new rules.
The charter airlines that transport nearly 90 percent of U.S. troops around the world had also lobbied heavily for an exemption to the new rules, saying military missions could be jeopardized. But FAA officials rejected those pleas.
The rules will prevent about one and a half accidents a year and an average of six deaths a year, FAA officials said. They will also improve pilots' health, officials said.
Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the Airlines for America trade association, said the group is reviewing new rule. "As we have said previously, we support changes to the rule that are science-based and that will improve safety," she wrote in an email.
Researchers say fatigue, much like alcohol, can impair a pilot's performance by slowing reflexes and eroding judgment. The National Transportation Safety Board has been campaigning for two decades for an overhaul of pilot work schedule rules. An effort by the FAA in the late 1990s to develop new rules stalled when pilot unions and airlines were unable to find common ground.
That effort was revived after the February 2009 crash Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo. Neither pilot appeared to have slept in a bed the previous night. The flight's captain had logged onto a computer in the middle of the night from an airport crew lounge where sleeping was discouraged. The first officer had commuted overnight from Seattle to Newark, N.J., much of the time sitting in a cockpit jumpseat. They could be heard yawning on the ill-fated flight's cockpit voice recorder.
However, by a 2-1 vote the NTSB decided not to cite fatigue as a contributing factor to the crash. The board agreed that the captain's incorrect responses to a stall warning caused the accident, and that other pilot errors contributed to the crash. But investigators said it wasn't possible to determine whether those errors were the result of fatigue.
But LaHood and former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt vowed to put strong fatigue rules in place.
"We made a promise to the traveling public that we would do everything possible to make sure pilots are rested when they get in the cockpit. This new rule raises the safety bar to prevent fatigue," LaHood said.
The families of victims killed in the crash won congressional passage of a law requiring the FAA to issue new rules by Aug. 1 of this year, but the White House Office of Management and Budget delayed release of the rules.
Susan Bourque, who lost a sister in the Flight 3407 crash, said she was particularly pleased that the rule will require pilots to sign a statement before each flight stating that they are rested and fit for duty.
Scheduling wasn't an issue in the accident. But if the pilots had been required to sign a similar statement it might have caused them to think twice about making the flight, said Bourque, of East Aurora, N.Y.
"It's a pretty good day," Bourque said. "I'm very happy that we can look forward to more rested pilots for passengers."
Safety advocates also applauded the new rules.
The changes replace "rules that were dangerously obsolete and completely ineffective," said Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va. "The rule applies fatigue science in a way that makes sense."
__
Online:
Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Democratic Republic of Congo bans text messaging
After a controversial presidential election that saw Joseph Kabila retain the office amid fierce protests, the Democratic Republic of Congo has shut down the nation's text messaging services in order to restore public order. Civil liberties concerns aside, it's proving to be highly dangerous for the one point four million deaf residents who rely on text messaging. Normally they would receive safety signals when conflict broke out in their vicinity -- leading to people being caught unawares in crossfires who would otherwise have remained indoors. Human Rights organization ASADHO has said the crackdown could lead to further deaths, especially for people in remote areas and has joined numerous others in requesting the repeal of the ban.
Democratic Republic of Congo bans text messaging originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
It's Free Shipping Day. Get Guaranteed Christmas Delivery from These Stores Today [Shopping]
If you didn't realize time is running out for holiday gift ordering, perhaps Free Shipping Day will remind you. The fourth shipping holiday this year is today, Friday, December 16th. Buy from a participating store for delivery by Christmas Eve.
A representative from Free Shipping Day wrote me that these are among the best shipping deals offered now, compared to what shoppers might currently or normally get from these shops:
- Chico's - Free shipping on all orders.
- Puma - Free shipping on all orders.
- Hush Puppies - Free shipping plus $10 off your order.
- Peruvian Connection - Free shipping and up to 40% off all orders.
- Sierra Trading Post - Free shipping on all orders.
- Disney Store - Free shipping on any order.
- The Body Shop - Free shipping on all orders.
There are over 2,400 other online stores offering free shipping today, however, so you definitely have a lot more choices. The free shipping is offered within the contiguous United States.
Note that some stores notorious for being more risky when it comes to timely delivery are also participating in the pseudo-holiday, so it might pay, still, to consider not just the free shipping offer.
If you've been procrastinating about placing your online order, today's a good day to finally take shopping action.
Free Shipping Day
You can follow or contact Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter or Google+.
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The Echo Nest To Power New Spotify Radio (Which Begins Rolling Out Today)
For a long time now, Spotify has had its own Radio experience, but, to be honest, it hasn't been very good. Then, last week, the Swedish-turned-America music service announced that it was redesigning its radio experience from the ground up, offering unlimited stations and unlimited "skips". And it's no mistake that, during his presentation of the new Spotify Radio, CEO Daniel Ek happened to compare his app to Pandora. Since its IPO, Pandora has been on a kick, but Spotify is doing everything it can to continue nipping at its heels and has added 7 million new users since integrating with Facebook at f8. Enter: The Echo Nest, a music intelligence startup whose technology powers many music apps from media companies and independent developersSource: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/vdzSeK1skHY/
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Mont. OKs Keystone but federal approval uncertain (AP)
BILLINGS, Mont. ? Montana officials on Thursday announced environmental approval for a major oil pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf Coast, but the proposal still needs approval from the federal government and Nebraska.
TransCanada's 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The project has been fiercely opposed by environmental groups and some landowners along the route, and the Obama administration last month said it was postponing its decision on Keystone XL until after the next election.
Republicans in Congress are trying to speed up a decision by linking approval to a measure renewing a payroll tax cut.
The $7 billion project would include a loading point for domestic crude as it passes through Montana near the booming Bakken oil field.
"Some people say this pipeline is just about the oil sands, it is not. It is also about Bakken oil in Montana," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said after announcing the approval. Schweitzer said the project would generate $60 million in property taxes annually in the state.
TransCanada would have to post a $100 million bond to cover any future problems with the line in Montana.
Montana's announcement that it intends to issue a permit to the project under the state's Major Facility Siting Act means the pipeline could proceed with construction under state law.
But TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said there were no immediate plans to begin work in Montana while federal approval is pending.
He said construction has started on a tank farm connected to the project in Hardisty, Alberta, but not on any sections of pipe. The company has asked the State Department if it can begin work on a section of Keystone XL from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast, but Howard said no decision has been made.
"We don't have plans to construct other portions of the line at this time," he said.
The line already has approval from South Dakota under its major facilities act. Such approvals are not needed in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, Howard said, leaving only Nebraska and the federal government.
A law passed by the Nebraska lawmakers during a recent special session gave the state the authority to conduct an environmental review of a new pipeline route that TransCanada is now developing. The state wants the line to go around the environmentally sensitive Sandhills region in Nebraska.
Once TransCanada submits a new route plan, the state's review is expected to take six to nine months.
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Bootleg liquor kills 126 people in eastern India
Indian patients take saline as they are treated after drinking toxic alcohol, in hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, officials said.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Indian patients take saline as they are treated after drinking toxic alcohol, in hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, officials said.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)
An Indian woman cries after her relative died from toxic alcohol outside a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Men who drank toxic alcohol receive saline intravenously in a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
People who drank toxic alcohol take saline in a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
An Indian woman is comforted as she cries after hearing her relative's death from toxic alcohol outside a hospital in Diamond Harbour, near Kolkata, India, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. A tainted batch of bootleg liquor has killed scores and sent dozens more to the hospital in villages outside Kolkata, officials said.(AP Photo/Bikas Das)
SANGRAMPUR, India (AP) ? Bootleg liquor laced with toxic methanol killed 126 people and sickened dozens more who bought the illegal brew at small shops in eastern India, officials said Thursday. Police arrested seven suspected bootleggers.
Thousands of relatives, many of them wailing, gathered outside the packed hospital. Inside, dead bodies lay on the floor covered in quilts, while the ill waited on staircases to be treated. Groups of men sat in the halls with saline drips running into their arms.
Illegal liquor operations flourish across the slums of urban India and among the rural poor who can't afford the alcohol at state-sanctioned shops. The hooch, often mixed with cheap chemicals, causes illness and death on occasion, but rarely creates such mass carnage.
Day laborers and other poor workers began falling ill late Tuesday after drinking cheap booze from illegal shops near the village of Sangrampur, district magistrate Naraya Swarup Nigam said.
Groups of men gathered after their shifts to drink along a road near a railway station late Tuesday when they began vomiting, suffering piercing headaches and frothing at the mouth, Nigam said. Angry villagers later ransacked the booze shops.
Arman Seikh, 23, rushed his brother-in-law to the hospital.
"He complained of burning chest and severe stomach pain last night," he told The Associated Press.
Police arrested seven people in connection with making and distributing the methanol-laced booze, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Police officials said the spurious liquor was from an illegal distillery in the village of Mograhat that supplies 70 shops in the area. Police are searching for the kingpin of the operation, who has fled, they said.
Alcohol for drinking is made from ethanol, whereas highly toxic methanol ? a clear liquid that can be used as fuel, solvent or antifreeze ? can induce comas and cause blindness and is deadly in high doses.
Anwar Hassan Mullah brought six sickened people to a hospital, and all of them died, he told NDTV news channel. He blamed police for turning a blind eye to bootleggers who spike their alcohol to boost its kick.
"It's a very sad thing that this has happened," Mullah said. "Why don't the police stop this? I cannot understand. What connection do they have (to the bootleggers)?"
By Thursday evening, the death toll had skyrocketed to 126, said Surajit Kar Purkayaspha, a top West Bengal police official. Others continued to come to hospitals, he said, though it was unclear if they were victims or opportunists hoping to get the state's grant of 200,000 rupees (about) $4,000 to the injured and the families of the dead.
Banerjee promised a crackdown.
"I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor," she said, according to Press Trust of India. "But this is a social problem also, and this has to be dealt with socially also along with action."
Despite religious and cultural taboos against drinking among Indians, 5 percent ? roughly 60 million people ? are alcoholics. Two-thirds of the alcohol consumed in the country is illegal hooch made in remote villages or undocumented liquor smuggled in, according to The Lancet medical journal.
The state of Gujarat, where all liquor is banned, just approved a death penalty for making, transporting or selling spurious liquor that kills people. The strict measures were proposed after 157 people died from drinking a bad batch of liquor in the city of Ahmedabad in 2009. At least 180 people died in 2008 around the southern Indian city of Bangalore from a toxic batch of homemade liquor.
The mass casualties came just days after a hospital fire in nearby Kolkata killed more than 90 people and led to the arrest of the facility's directors for culpable homicide.
In the latest tragedy, victims had purchased the illegal booze for about 10 rupees (20 cents) a half liter, less than one-third the price of legal alcohol, at shops near Sangrampur, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Kolkata, the city formerly known as Calcutta.
Illicit liquor is a hugely profitable industry across India, where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell enormous quantities of their product, said Johnson Edayaranmula, executive director of the Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance, an organization that fights alcohol-related problems.
The bootleggers, working in homes, hidden warehouses and even in forests, can turn 1 liter of genuine alcohol into 1,000 liters of bootlegged swill with chemicals and additives that usually cause no harm, but on occasion can lead to tragedy, he said.
Every week, one or two people across the country die from tainted liquor, he said. In 2009, at least 112 people died from a toxic brew in western India.
"People don't know what they are drinking," he said. "It's all easy money, big profits. No one is bothered by the health or social consequences."
The trade is allowed to flourish despite strict laws against spurious liquor because corrupt police, local officials and tax authorities all get a cut of the profits, he said.
"Many people are getting a share out of it, so who is going to take action against these people," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Manik Banerjee contributed to this report.
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