New soil testing kit for third world countries

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Susan V. Fisk
sfisk@sciencesocieties.org
608-273-8091
American Society of Agronomy

Oct. 16, 2013Researchers at the University of Maryland and Columbia University have developed a new soil testing kit designed to help farmers in third world countries. On-the-spot soil testing could have major impact in improving crop yields due to poor soils. The kit contains battery-operated instruments and safe materials for agricultural extension agents to handle in the field. They can test for the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium, as well as active organic matter, and certain soil physical limitations. The raw results of the tests are sent by cell phone to a central website. Then, calculations are made and recommendations are delivered back to the extension agent.

The kit, called SoilDoc, is the culmination of several years of work in Africa by Ray Weil, PhD. Weil, a soil scientist, spent his 2009 sabbatical working with the Millennium Villages Project in the some of the poorest areas of Africa. He started carrying common soil testing items in his backpack, but found he needed more. Back in the US, he discovered items used for testing home aquariums that would also work for soil tests. Upon returning to Africa, he adapted them with good results, carrying a larger toolkit. A colleague, Pedro Sanchez, a well-known scientist fighting world hunger, suggested that Weil create a product around his homemade kit. Sanchez brought the resources of Columbia University's Ag and Food Security Center to bear on the project

A post-doctoral researcher at Sanchez's Center, Lydiah Gatere, recently rolled out the SoilDoc product. She trained 16 Tanzanian and Nigerian extension personnel. The group plans to conduct more training workshops in 2014 for Tanzania, Nigeria and possibly additional countries. Their vision is to train the trainers: thousands of extension agents, many with little more than a high school education, will then be consultants. They will be ready to diagnose soil fertility problems and offer recommendations to many thousands of "smallholder farmers." These farmers work on less than 5 acres. The ultimate goal is to significantly increase crop production and food security in Africa.

Gatere will present "Field Kit Soil Tests to Assess Acidity, N, P, S and K Fertility in Kenyan Soils" on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013 at 2:45 PM. The presentation is part of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America Annual Meetings, Nov. 3-6 in Tampa, Florida. The theme of this year's conference is "Water, Food, Energy, & Innovation for a Sustainable World".

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Media Invitation

Contact: Susan V. Fisk, 608-273-8091, sfisk@sciencesocieties.org. Please RSVP by October 25, 2013 Members of the media receive complimentary registration to the joint meetings. If you would like a 1-on-1 interview with Drs. Weil or Gatere, contact Susan Fisk at the above email.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
[


| E-mail



| Share

]

Contact: Susan V. Fisk
sfisk@sciencesocieties.org
608-273-8091
American Society of Agronomy

Oct. 16, 2013Researchers at the University of Maryland and Columbia University have developed a new soil testing kit designed to help farmers in third world countries. On-the-spot soil testing could have major impact in improving crop yields due to poor soils. The kit contains battery-operated instruments and safe materials for agricultural extension agents to handle in the field. They can test for the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium, as well as active organic matter, and certain soil physical limitations. The raw results of the tests are sent by cell phone to a central website. Then, calculations are made and recommendations are delivered back to the extension agent.

The kit, called SoilDoc, is the culmination of several years of work in Africa by Ray Weil, PhD. Weil, a soil scientist, spent his 2009 sabbatical working with the Millennium Villages Project in the some of the poorest areas of Africa. He started carrying common soil testing items in his backpack, but found he needed more. Back in the US, he discovered items used for testing home aquariums that would also work for soil tests. Upon returning to Africa, he adapted them with good results, carrying a larger toolkit. A colleague, Pedro Sanchez, a well-known scientist fighting world hunger, suggested that Weil create a product around his homemade kit. Sanchez brought the resources of Columbia University's Ag and Food Security Center to bear on the project

A post-doctoral researcher at Sanchez's Center, Lydiah Gatere, recently rolled out the SoilDoc product. She trained 16 Tanzanian and Nigerian extension personnel. The group plans to conduct more training workshops in 2014 for Tanzania, Nigeria and possibly additional countries. Their vision is to train the trainers: thousands of extension agents, many with little more than a high school education, will then be consultants. They will be ready to diagnose soil fertility problems and offer recommendations to many thousands of "smallholder farmers." These farmers work on less than 5 acres. The ultimate goal is to significantly increase crop production and food security in Africa.

Gatere will present "Field Kit Soil Tests to Assess Acidity, N, P, S and K Fertility in Kenyan Soils" on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013 at 2:45 PM. The presentation is part of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America Annual Meetings, Nov. 3-6 in Tampa, Florida. The theme of this year's conference is "Water, Food, Energy, & Innovation for a Sustainable World".

###

Media Invitation

Contact: Susan V. Fisk, 608-273-8091, sfisk@sciencesocieties.org. Please RSVP by October 25, 2013 Members of the media receive complimentary registration to the joint meetings. If you would like a 1-on-1 interview with Drs. Weil or Gatere, contact Susan Fisk at the above email.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/asoa-nst101613.php
Category: kris jenner   The Blacklist   FedEx Cup standings   college football scores   Maia Mitchell  

Timbaland's Wife Files For Divorce -- What's Yours Is Mine!

Timbaland
Wife Files for Divorce
What's Yours is Mine!

Exclusive

Timbaland's wife has filed for divorce ... TMZ has learned ... and she's not only demanding that he foot the bill for their kid, she wants him to pay for a kid he didn't even father.

Monique Mosley says in her divorce docs -- obtained by TMZ -- that although she and Timbaland have been married for 5 years, they've been a couple for twice that time.  In addition to their 5-year-old daughter, Monique has a 10-year-old from another relationship.

So why, you ask, is she asking for child support for both kids?  Monique says Timbaland is the daddy by default, since he's "publicly and privately proclaimed this child as his own."

But that's not all.  Monique wants alimony, life insurance, private school, vacations, summer camp and other expenses.  She says she's so strapped for cash, she had to borrow money from a friend to pay her lawyer.  She wants Timbaland -- who's worth around $80 mil -- to foot the lawyer's bill.

One more thing.  She wants to get Timbaland coming and going.  In the alimony department, she says she wants money while divorce proceedings are pending, she wants a lump sum, she wants "rehabilitative alimony," and permanent alimony.

It's like she's trying to cut him down like a mighty tree in the forest -- TIMBA!

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Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/10/16/timbaland-divorce-alimony-child-support-monique-mosley/
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U.K. TV Indie Giants Merge to Create Regional Powerhouse

YouTube

"Splash" is a Twofour Broadcast production.

LONDON – Plymouth-based indie production giant TwoFour is merging with former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey and Huw Eurig Davies' year-old production venture Boom Pictures in Cardiff.

The merger will create what the duo claim will be a "major new nations and regions player" in indie media production.

The deal sees Twofour Group’s global business -- comprising Twofour Broadcast, Twofour Rights and Twofour Digital -- joining Boom Pictures, with its senior executives taking key roles in the enlarged Boom Pictures group.

This merger fuels the growth of Boom Pictures in line with plans set out by co-founders Heggessey and Davies when they launched the group in July 2012.

Twofour greatly expands Boom's network programming, moving the company into key genres such as entertainment and features.

The deal also brings in international distribution for output with Twofour Rights, and a growing production presence in the U.S.

In addition, Twofour’s thriving digital arm serves blue chip brand clients and a growing hub in Abu Dhabi.

The merger has been supported by U.K. private equity firm LDC, that invested in the creation and development of Boom Pictures in 2012.

The merging of the two businesses puts Boom Pictures group firmly among the top 10 UK indie production outfits.

The freshly-merged entity will operate from Boom’s Cardiff headquarters and Twofour’s headquarters in Plymouth.

Heggessey, executive chair and co-founder of Boom Pictures, said: "We’re on an exciting journey and it’s the right time for us to join up with such an excellent creative and executive team who have already built a hugely successful company. Boom and Twofour fit together perfectly and have a similar positive culture, firmly rooted in the nations and regions."

Twofour Group founder and CEO Charles Wace said: "In looking at the future of Twofour’s business, the attraction was the backing of LDC, one of the U.K.’s leading and most experienced private equity firms, combined with Lorraine’s leadership and vision. This ambitious partnership is the ideal platform to help take Twofour to the next stage in its life."

Davies, deputy chair and co-founder of Boom Pictures added: "The strategic value of this deal, at this stage in our development, is that it fulfils several key business growth ambitions. It gives us real scale, a base from which to grow in the U.S. and brings distribution in-house so we can benefit from the rights that come from our creativity."

Twofour Broadcast has produced over 200 hours of original broadcast programming across all major U.K. broadcasters with shows such as ITV’s hit Splash! and the forthcoming The Alpine Games (w/t) for Channel 4.

It also brings successful factual entertainment titles including Alex Polizzi’s The Hotel Inspector and The Fixer as well as fixed-rig factual hit Educating Yorkshire.

The inclusion of Twofour Digital with its blue chip clients including DuPont / Ogilvy Entertainment, and the award winning Horizons series on BBC Global News will build on Boom Pictures’ digital and branded content expertise.

Boom group currently boasts award-winning work with major brands through the Boomerang label, which produces GT Academy for Nissan and Playstation and The Clare Balding Show for U.K. telecom giant TV venture BT Sport.

Twofour’s post-production banners in Plymouth will compliment Boom Pictures’ own offering through Cardiff-based Gorilla and The Joint in Soho, London expanding the group’s ability to keep its post-production in-house.

The deal also gives Boom Pictures a greater international footprint and global reach.

Twofour Rights, which launched in 2012, becomes the group’s in-house distribution arm, Twofour Broadcast’s Los Angeles office gives Boom Pictures a base in the U.S. from which to build on its relationships with American networks and cable channels.

Twofour Digital’s Abu Dhabi office adds a presence in the growing Middle East market.

The Twofour labels will retain their names and branding, with the senior management continuing in their current roles or taking on Boom Pictures Group roles.

The management changes will include Wace stepping back from his role as CEO of Twofour Group "to pursue other interests."

But he will remain involved through his new roles on the Boom Pictures board as non-executive chairman of Twofour and a non-executive director of Boom Pictures.

Melanie Leach will continue in her role as managing director of Twofour Broadcast, and will become an exec director of Boom Pictures with a seat on the board.

Leach said: "Twofour’s slate has continued to strengthen under the current management team and we’re excited to work alongside Lorraine and Huw as we build what we hope will become one of the UK’s most admired media groups."

Boom Pictures launched with a strategy "to support the organic growth of the companies within the group, to attract leading creative talent, to back start-ups, and to acquire companies that extend the group’s portfolio and capabilities."

The first Boom deal was with Graham Linehan and producer Richard Boden for comedy label Delightful Industries, and this was followed in January 2013 by the backing of former ITV drama heads Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes’ new company Mainstreet Pictures.

Boom Pictures companies also include Boom Pictures Cymru, which produces over 400 hours of Welsh language programming for S4C, Boomerang, Oxford Scientific Films and Indus Films. 

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/business/~3/rw9nuGHpJuY/story01.htm
Tags: eric decker   veep   911   amber heard   Jamaal Charles  

Kangaroo's visit gets people hopping at Melbourne Airport

A kangaroo shut down part of Melbourne Airport on Wednesday when it hopped through a terminal and into a pharmacy, airport officials said.

Customers inside the drug store alerted Australian police, who were forced to lock down part of the Qantas terminal so wildlife workers could tranquilize the wayward kangaroo.

"After a lot of careful coaxing and corralling," Melbourne's 3AW radio reported, "the 'roo was cornered and wrangled into a bag by rescuers."

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, it was injured on a road near the airport.

It is unclear how the animal got into the terminal, but according to Masson, it's not unusual to see kangaroos in the airport's parking lot.

Karen Masson, the chief executive of Wildlife Victoria, told Reuters that the male eastern gray kangaroo — named Cyrus after one of his rescuers — was taken to a veterinary for treatment.

"He has done some damage to his teeth and is severely stressed," Wildlife Victoria said in a Facebook post. "He is resting now and volunteers are monitoring him closely."

"We get calls," Masson said. "There are a lot of 'roos out there."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kangaroo-wanders-into-airport-pharmacy-135620952.html
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New iPads likely at Apple event next week

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple is holding an event in San Francisco next week to announce new products — likely updated iPads.

The company announced its most recent iPads around this time last year. The announcement included a smaller version, called the Mini, for the first time.

New iPads would get Apple's latest operating system for mobile devices, iOS 7. The invitation sent Tuesday includes a graphic that mimics the color scheme in iOS 7.

Next Tuesday's event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, a venue Apple has often used in the past.

It follows last month's release of new iPhones with iOS 7 — the 5S model with a fingerprint sensor and a cheaper, 5C model with a variety of color options.

It's also possible Apple will use the event to release its new Mac operating system, Mavericks. Apple unveiled the system in June. The system will support tagging to help you find files more easily. It also promises better battery life and a way to keep track of passwords across multiple devices more easily. Apple may also announce new Mac computers at the event.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-10-15-Apple-New%20iPads/id-fc5e2ef110c048cbadb2022ba2b8bdc0
Tags: Rihanna Pour It Up Video   NFL.com   princess diana   phil mickelson   pippa middleton  

Will Apple's new retail chief think different?

Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts has already made a name for herself elevating customer experience at Burberry. Can she do the same for Apple?

Apple's newest retail chief, current Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, in 2010

(Credit: Samir Hussein/Getty)

Amid the throngs of tourists, Apple's store in London on Regents Street is housed in a richly textured edifice, with the storefront ornately separated into four glass sections, each with its own Apple logo. Without those logos, you might simply walk by, ignoring the busy inside.

It's a stark contrast to the minimalist glass cube of Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York City, and a good example of how Apple's built its 400-plus store empire. You can walk into any of the company's stores and walk out with the same gadget, but each store is unique.

Just down the street from that London Apple store is Burberry, which itself is fitted with luxurious finishings. But instead of polished, aluminum gadgets on wooden tablets there are handbags and clothes, wrapped in an air of elegance and warmth.

Those London stores could give us some insight into the mind of Angela Ahrendts, Burberry's chief executive who was just named by Apple to run its retail empire. Ahrendts, who's been Burberry's CEO since 2006, brings the understanding of an emotive shopping experience -- something that Burberry exudes, and Apple is hell bent on preserving.

London Regent Street Burberry and Apple stores

(Credit: Apple/Burberry)

"Clearly, Apple stores are phenomenally successful. But in the past four or five years, I don't think they've been contributing to the actual building of the brand," said Neil Stern, senior partner at McMillan Doolittle, a retail consultancy. "I think she can make that connection much more direct."

Apple had been looking for a new executive to head its retail efforts since ousting its former chief, John Browett, about a year ago. He was on the job just nine months. The position was left vacant after Ron Johnson, who conceived of the original Apple Stores with Steve Jobs, bolted to take the top job at JCPenney's, only to be ousted himself after he failed to revitalize the department store. Ahrendts will run both Apple's online and offline stores, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook as a senior vice president. She is said to be starting in the spring.

Apple declined to make her available for an interview.

Angela Ahrendts

(Credit: Burberry)

Ahrendts, who was the highest paid CEO in the UK last year according to CNNMoney, grew up (PDF) in the small Midwestern town of New Palestine, Ind. -- which, as of the 2010 census, had a population of just over 2,000 people. She was brought up by a "spiritual mother and philosopher father," as she puts it, so it's perhaps not surprising that she places such a premium on intuition. At a TEDx talk in Hollywood in March, Ahrendts riffed on the power of "human energy": "Think of energy almost like emotional electricity. It has a powerful way of uniting ordinary people, their connected spirit, to do extraordinary things," she said.

It appears that energy is one of the things that attracted Cook to the Burberry CEO. In a memo sent out to the company introducing Ahrendts, Cook noted that she "led Burberry through a period of phenomenal growth with a focus on brand, culture, core values and the power of positive energy."

In Apple's case, the company's products already hit that growth spurt, which has slowed down some in recent months as the tablet and smartphone markets mature. What hasn't slowed are Apple's efforts to expand its retail empire. Last year the company opened up 33 new retail stores. That's down from 40 the year before, though many more of those stores are being built outside of the US, where Apple hopes to expand and diversify its sales.

And speaking of diversity, it might not be long before Ahrendts makes her mark on the physical stores themselves. "One of the challenges for the Apple Store is, the products really speak for themselves, so the retail experience gets kind of lost. For example, the iPhone itself is the main focus," said Stern. Coming from a luxury retailer, one of the changes Stern thinks we can expect to see with Ahrendts at the helm is more displays and focus on luring people in.

Apple, for its part, has experimented with this concept in recent years, tapping its own iPad tablets as tools to replacing static signage next to its products. The company's also pushed people to use its mobile phone application to let customers research and buy products as well as page employees to come to their help.

More recently, Apple's brought that same ethos to its products. The company's new flagship iPhone 5S, for instance, comes with a gold option, and the cheaper 5C comes in a rainbow of colors. That's in contrast to the black, white, and gray that have made up the look and feel of most Apple products for the past decade.

Of course, just because Ahrendts understands the power of intuition, doesn't mean she's not fluent in data and technology. After she arrived at Burberry in 2006 from Liz Claiborne, she ushered in a new digital regime at the at the over 150-year-old brand. She brought the company into the social era, offering Facebook fans exclusive goodies, and live-tweeting about Burberry models right before they hit the runway. She also incorporated enterprise software like Salesforce and SAP into the company's operations, according to a June 2012 story in Fortune.

She even cultivated a chummy relationship with Salesforce's gregarious CEO Mark Benioff. He declined to be interviewed for this story, instead pointing to a tweet he blasted out with a glowing endorsement:

At Burberry, Ahrendts also helped to marry the online and offline world. Burberry's artofthetrench.com is a site that lets people send in pictures of themselves wearing the company's trench coats. Some items in London stores have RFID tags that let customers watch videos on their phones about how that item was made. And under her watch, the company also held a holographic in-store runway show in 2011 to celebrate the opening of its flagship store in Beijing.

With that said, Apple's already got much of that marketing figured out from a buyer's perspective. It runs only occasional sales at its stores, and has turned even temporary online store downtime into news stories. People spend days, and even take time off work to be the first to buy its products when they go on sale, a process that itself has nearly reached logistical perfection. In that sense, Ahrendts' biggest mark -- changing what happens in the stock rooms and with employees -- might not even be seen in that window display.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57607670-37/will-apples-new-retail-chief-think-different/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple
Category: brandon marshall   january jones   Espn College Football   Lisa Robin Kelly   Comic Con 2013  

As Gitmo plods, Obama's winning the case for court

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four years after his failed effort to bring the 9/11 mastermind to New York for trial, President Barack Obama has reinstated the federal courthouse as America's preferred venue for prosecuting suspected terrorists.

His administration has done so by quietly securing conviction after conviction in the civilian judicial system. Meanwhile at Guantanamo Bay, admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's case moves at a snail's pace.

Tuesday's expected arraignment of suspected al-Qaida member Abu Anas al-Libi is the latest example of Obama's de facto policy. Al-Libi was captured in a military raid in Libya earlier this month and had been under interrogation aboard a U.S. warship.

The Obama administration says it considers all options for prosecuting terrorists, weighing military and civilian trials on a case-by-case basis.

But Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. military base that embodied America's post-9/11 methods of interrogating and prosecuting suspected terrorists, has turned into a legal morass. The military commission's poor case record has become less about winning and more about completion.

While the Justice Department says more than 125 people have been convicted of terrorism charges in federal courts since 2009, not a single military commission has come to a close during that period.

Of the few military commissions completed under President George W. Bush, most resulted in short sentences or have been overturned.

"There's really no comparison in terms of the success rate," said David Raskin, the former top national security prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan. "Not really between wins or losses, just finishing the cases. There's no comparison at this point."

The politics are breaking Obama's way too.

When Attorney General Eric Holder announced in 2009 that Mohammed would be tried in New York City, the outcry from both political parties was great.

Some feared a high-profile terrorism trial would put the city at risk. Others said a civilian courthouse, with all the rights afforded defendants there, was no place for a terrorist.

Obama, who came into office promising to close Guantanamo Bay and prosecute terrorists in federal courts, buckled under the pressure and pulled the case back to Guantanamo.

Since then, not much has changed at the naval base in Cuba. Mohammed is one of 164 men held there and one of six facing trial. Those trials have stalled largely because of legal challenges to the commission system itself.

In federal courts, however, the Obama administration is quietly churning through terror cases and putting many terrorists away for life.

One of the first key cases was against Ahmed Ghailani, a former Guantanamo detainee who was transferred to New York early in Obama's administration. He was convicted in 2010 and is serving a life sentence in prison.

Last year, Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, an Iraqi man, pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in Kentucky and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Hammadi's co-defendant got a 40-year sentence for his role in a plot to ship weapons and cash to insurgents in Iraq.

Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, a Somali citizen accused of helping support and train al-Qaida-linked militants, pleaded guilty earlier this year. Like al-Libi, he was questioned aboard a U.S. warship before being turned over to the civilian justice system.

Each new trial brought fresh criticism from Republicans, but that criticism diminished each time.

Some Republican lawmakers criticized Monday's announcement that al-Libi would face trial in court. They questioned whether interrogators questioned him long enough.

"It certainly begs the question whether rushing foreign terrorists into U.S. courts is a strategy that is in the best interests of the United States," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

But in the midst of a major budget debate in Washington, the matter got little attention.

The White House, which once fought back against such criticism, now shows little interest in renewing a debate that proved to be a political distraction.

So the administration said nothing when al-Libi arrived in the United States on Saturday. Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, issued a two-sentence statement Monday, saying only that al-Libi was due in court to answer charges dating back more than a decade.

Al-Libi, whose full name is Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, is accused of helping plan and conduct surveillance for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.

"A federal civilian criminal trial is by far the safest and the one that would raise the least complex set of legal problems for the administration," said Steve Vladick, a professor at American University law school.

That's because al-Libi was indicted more than a decade ago, which meant the government did not need any evidence it gathered against him during his interrogation.

Intelligence officials questioned him for a week aboard the USS San Antonio. Interrogations at sea have replaced CIA "black sites" as the U.S. government's preferred method for holding suspected terrorists and questioning them without access to lawyers.

Al-Libi's al-Qaida ties date back to the terrorist group's early years, according to court documents. That would make him a valuable source of information about the group's history.

In an interview last week on the PBS program "NewsHour," Lisa Monaco, the president's homeland security adviser, said the first priority in capturing al-Libi was to get intelligence.

"I think what it shows is a very clear strategy by the U.S. government to use all the tools, frankly, in our toolbox to disrupt threats, to go after — consistent with the rule of law — individuals who pose a threat, to get intelligence and then ultimately to make a decision about what the best disposition is," Monaco said.

So far, in every instance that the Obama administration has had a terrorist suspect in custody, it has found the best disposition was the federal court system.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gitmo-plods-obamas-winning-case-court-132150071--politics.html
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Body found after two Memphis cops shot by wanted man barricaded in burning house

WSMV-TV

Flames engulf a house in Memphis, Tenn., where a man who shot two police officers was believed to be barricaded Tuesday night.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Two police officers were shot Tuesday by a murder suspect in Memphis, Tenn., who barricaded himself inside a house that he then set on fire, authorities said.

Police said the body of Aaron Dumas, 32 — whom police tactical officers had been trying to arrest when the gunman opened fire on them — was found in a bathtub in the home.

---

The wounded officers, identified as Timothy Jackson and Paul Hutchinson, were described as stable with gunshot wounds in their legs. Jackson was released from the hospital Tuesday night.

Memphis Police Department

Aaron Dumas, 32, was wanted on attempted murder charges in the shootings last week of his ex-girlfriend and her brother in Memphis, Tenn.

Dozens of members of the Memphis Police Department's elite tactical unit circled the house in south Memphis for much of the day after Dumas' mother let them in about 1:20 p.m. (2:20 p.m. ET) with a warrant for Dumas' arrest in a double shooting last week, police said.

The gunman fired "numerous" shots at Jackson as he tried to enter a bedroom where the man was holed up, Police Director Toney Armstrong said. About three hours later, when police tossed in what they described as a "chemical agent," the man opened fire again, hitting Hutchinson.

The house went up in flames and billowing smoke shortly thereafter. Armstrong said police believe the gunman set the fire.

Specially trained tactical officers were sent to arrest Dumas because he was considered armed and extremely dangerous, Armstrong said. "The TACT Unit was there as a precaution, and as you can see, things can go very, very badly very, very quickly," he said.

Dumas had been wanted on two attempted murder counts in connection with the shootings Oct. 7 of his ex-girlfriend and her brother. Angelique White, 29, and Christopher White, 23, were in good condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis after having been shot in a confrontation in their mother's driveway. 

"This has been very hard," Bonita White, the victims' mother, told NBC station WMC of Memphis on Monday. "It's been something I had envisioned (and) had dreams about for 3½ years."

White said that there had been a disturbance involving Dumas two weeks ago but that her daughter chose not to press charges — even though she said Dumas had made threats to kill the family before.

"You listen and you hear things like that (and) you think it's an idle threat," White said. But "he made good on his threat. It makes me very, very angry."

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

This story was originally published on Tue Oct 15, 2013 7:13 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/3280e49f/sc/8/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C10A0C150C20A9796330Ebody0Efound0Eafter0Etwo0Ememphis0Ecops0Eshot0Eby0Ewanted0Eman0Ebarricaded0Ein0Eburning0Ehouse0Dlite/story01.htm
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Millions Of Miles From Shutdown, Mars Rovers Keep Working

A photo composed of nearly 900 images taken by the rover Curiosity shows a section of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars. The rovers are continuing to work through the U.S. government shutdown.

NASA/AP

A photo composed of nearly 900 images taken by the rover Curiosity shows a section of Gale Crater near the equator of Mars. The rovers are continuing to work through the U.S. government shutdown.

NASA/AP

The budget negotiations in Washington are not front-page news on Mars. There, millions of miles away, NASA's rovers continue to operate, taking photographs and collecting data as they prepare for the coming Martian winter.

NPR's Joe Palca has this report for our Newscast unit:

"NASA's newest rover, called Curiosity, is on the move. It's headed to the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain that towers three-and-a-half miles above the floor of Gale Crater where the rover landed. Scientists hope the foothills of the mountain will reveal some of the ancient geologic history of Mars.

"The other rover, called Opportunity, is studying something similar at the rim of Endeavor crater. In January, the rover that was designed to last 90 days will mark its 10th year on Mars.

"Some of Opportunity's instruments have stopped working, but it's still taking pictures and still roves across the surface, albeit quite a bit slower than its newer partner on the other side of the planet."

The two rovers are taking in data and getting into strategic locations before winter arrives on Mars in a few months.

The scarcity of sunlight shouldn't pose a challenge for Curiosity, whose systems are powered by heat generated by the radioactive decay of plutonium. NASA hopes that the older Opportunity, which powers itself with solar panels, will be aided by its position on a north-facing slope.

As the Planetary Society website notes, this will be Opportunity's sixth winter:

"Harsh beyond belief, winters on Mars are life threatening, even for robots. Opportunity must endure constant, sometimes radical fluctuations in daily temperatures, not to mention survive temperatures as low as 100 degrees below freezing, all of which is really tough on her metal parts. Of course, the veteran rover has proved its resilience many times over while exploring this sub-freezing planet."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/14/234256158/thousands-of-miles-from-shutdown-mars-rovers-keep-working?ft=1&f=1007
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Madonna Banned From Theater After Texting Incessantly During “12 Years A Slave” Film

Madonna has been banned from watching movies at the Alama Drafthouse movie theater chain after texting on her phone during the screening of “12 Years A Slave”.

The singer annoyed other attendees that showed up to see the Steve McQueen biopic and called one woman an “enslaver” for daring to call her on it.

Was Madonna not entertained by the movie?

Film critic Charles Taylor revealed on Facebook that one attendee overheard a blonde woman in black lace gloves snap at the woman who tapped her on the shoulder while she texted, saying, “It’s for business… ENSLAVER!”

The woman was later revealed to be Madonna and she was seen standing at the side of the theater when the movie was over.

Alamo CEO Tim League wrote on Twitter, “Until she apologizes to movie fans, Madonna is banned from watching movies.”

The cinema chain has a zero tolerance policy about phone use during their screenings, with their website proclaiming, “We aren’t afraid to kick anyone rude enough to start texting their friends during a show right out of the theater.”

One eyewitness wasn’t sure what to make of the incident, but stated, “Some people are shocked by this, because Madonna was visibly tearing up, everybody there thought that she was very moved by it.”

Click thumbnails for larger pictures

Images: wenn.com

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/0ykEcKU754M/
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Adobe's source code was parked on hackers' unprotected server

Hackers capitalize on other people's mistakes. But they make their own as well.

Case in point: A massive breach of Adobe Systems' network was discovered after the source code of numerous products, including the Web application development platform ColdFusion, sat parked on a hacker's unprotected Web server open to the Internet.

[ Also on InfoWorld:  Adobe hack shows subscription software vendors are lucrative targets. | Prevent corporate data leaks with Roger Grimes' "Data Loss Prevention Deep Dive" PDF expert guide, only from InfoWorld. | Stay up to date on the latest security developments with InfoWorld's Security Central newsletter. ]

The breach, which also encompassed 2.9 million encrypted customer credit card records, was announced by Adobe on Oct. 3. Adobe had already been investigating a breach when Alex Holden, chief information security officer of Hold Security, independently found what turned out to be the company's source code on a hacking gang's server.

Adobe's source code "was hidden, but it was not cleverly hidden," Holden said.

Perusing the directory of the server, Holden found a directory with the abbreviation "ad." It was filled with "interesting" file names, Holden said, including encrypted ."rar" and ".zip" files.

It's not clear if the files were stolen from Adobe in an encrypted format or if the hackers encrypted the files and then uploaded them to their server, Holden said. In either case, Adobe confirmed it was indeed source code.

Source code could make it easier for hackers to find vulnerabilities in Adobe's products, Holden said. But so far, no new zero-day vulnerabilities -- the term for a vulnerability that is already being exploited but doesn't have a patch -- have surfaced in the last couple of months since the source code was taken, Holden said. So far, the source code has not been publicly released.

In an Oct. 3 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Adobe acknowledged the breach, but said it did "not believe that the attacks will have a material adverse impact on our business."

But Adobe wrote later in the filing that its efforts to fight cyberattacks "may not be successful" and cause the loss of customers, incur potential liability and cost the company money.

The server had already attracted interest prior to the Adobe find. It was being used as a repository for stolen data by a gang that also broke into the networks of data aggregators LexisNexis, Dunn & Bradstreet and Kroll Background America, as reported by security analyst and journalist Brian Krebs.

The Russian-speaking gang -- which doesn't have a name yet -- is still active. And there's more to come.

The server also holds data stolen from several other companies, which have since been notified that they may have been struck by the gang as well, Holden said. Some of those breaches could become public if the companies elect to make an announcement.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/security/adobes-source-code-was-parked-hackers-unprotected-server-228647
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Alec Baldwin Sings Wife’s Praises on “Up Late”

Kicking off his brand new venture, Alec Baldwin gushed over his wife Hilaria during the premiere of “Up Late with Alec Baldwin.”

The “30 Rock” hunk happily recalled the first time he met his lovely bride in 2011- "I remember during my lifetime I would meet women, and it was almost like God would say to me, 'Now, this woman here is not the one you are going to end up with, but she is going to be a lot like this woman; look at this woman, study this woman.’”

Clearly in love, Baldwin continued, "And when my wife showed up, he was like, 'You recognize her now?'"

Alec announced last month that he’d been given his own show, something he’d been working toward for awhile. "After two seasons of my WNYC podcast, I've developed a fondness for hosting a show that involved talking with smart, talented and engaging people in every imaginable field. I'm grateful to MSNBC for helping me bring a similar show to television."

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/alec-baldwin/alec-baldwin-sings-wife%E2%80%99s-praises-%E2%80%9C-late%E2%80%9D-942354
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Urgent Cash Loans - For Your Emergency Financial Crunch ...

The process of money lending involves a lot of procedures that are tiring and elongate the process unnecessarily. Many applicants try to stay from borrowing money due to this reason and face financial crunches. Urgent cash loans have been especially designed for the urgent financial crisis that a person may come across.

Urgent cash loans offer a monetary help in the range of £80 to £1500 which can be returned back in comfortable settlement duration of 1 to 30 days. With the help of these funds, an applicant can resolve his emergency financial crunch. You can expect to get smooth and hassle free finance at an extremely faster pace.

If one goes online, one can a lot of options of various money lenders. It is important to scan options carefully before applying for any of them. When you are able to find a suitable choice, fill the online application form from the comfort of your home within in a few minutes. After you submit the application, the lender starts the verification process. The money gets transferred into your bank account. This whole process takes only a day's time to get completed.

The applicant has to face the least amount of paperwork hassle here. Moreover, the money that you apply for comes to you without giving any security against it. This service is risk free for the borrower.

A stained credit condition of a person is also not a trouble for him. A defaulter also gets quick approval as well as quick money from the lender. Blemished credit score like payment overdues, late payments, arrears, insolvency, foreclosures, IVA, CCJS are an absolute non-issue.

An applicant has to fulfill some requisites, if he wants to avail the benefits of this facility. One should be an adult citizen of the country; he should bring home a fixed salary each month. He should also possess a valid bank account which has to be at least 3 months old.

Source: http://j-c-a.blogspot.com/2013/10/urgent-cash-loans-for-your-emergency.html
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Global finance leaders jittery over budget impasse

WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund chief warned the U.S. on Thursday that failure to raise the debt ceiling could do deep damage to both the American and global economies.

Christine Lagarde, speaking at a news conference, told the U.S. to "get its fiscal house in order," referring to the deadlock over passing spending and debt limit bills. Lagarde's comments began an annual meeting of global financial leaders by the IMF and World Bank.

She said the global economy is in a slow and unbalanced recovery and urged Europe to clean up its banking problems and forge ahead with a banking union.

But it the U.S. political impasse dominated the discussion at the Washington meetings. It comes at a time when the IMF and other economic experts are counting on an improving U.S. economy to help carry the fragile global economic recovery.

These new concerns are layered on top of anxiety over an expected reduction in the central bank's bond-buying program to stimulate the economy. The prospect of that reduction has put significant pressure on markets in developing countries even before it has actually begun.

The mounting worries about the U.S. mark a shift for the Washington-based IMF. After years fretting about the deep economic crisis in Europe, the focus of most concern is now in the IMF's own backyard.

The U.S. government partially shut down last week after lawmakers in the House and Senate failed to agree on a spending bill to fund the government at the start of the new fiscal year. Republicans in Congress are refusing to approve a temporary spending bill, demanding changes to or elimination of President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law. They are linking the health care law to the budget battle because they contend the law's costs could severely harm the U.S. economy. Democrats say Republicans want to challenge legislation that was approved three years ago.

Separately, Democrats and Republicans are also clashing over the approaching deadline to boost the government's $16.7 trillion borrowing limit. Republicans are demanding spending cuts to reduce the budget deficit as the price for supporting an increase in the debt ceiling.

Obama and fellow Democrats insist that Congress first end the shutdown and extend the debt limit before any negotiations. They say spending and debt ceiling bills are vital and should not come with conditions attached.

If political infighting does real damage, such as forcing a debt default, experts fear it could imperil the global recovery.

Adding to uncertainty, the Federal Reserve is expected to begin scaling back its extraordinary stimulus early next year. The $85 billion a month in bond purchases have injected cash into the sluggish economy to boost growth.

The easing will be a sign that U.S. monetary policymakers believe the economy is strong enough to stand on its own.

But the IMF is warning that managing a smooth transition away from the stimulus could prove challenging as both interest rates and market volatility rise. If the withdrawal is too rapid, it risks unsettling markets.

At the same time, Europe is emerging from a deep recession and is expected to return to only very low rates of growth.

The IMF now sees the dynamics of global growth shifting, with the U.S. expected to drive expansion in the near term, helped by European and Japanese economies recovering from their slump.

That is a departure from the Fund's assessments earlier this year that developing economies such as China, India and Brazil would be the drivers of the global economy this year.

Those emerging economies have been rocked since May by anticipation that the Fed will begin easing off stimulus.

While U.S. interest rates were low and cash was abundant, capital flowed into riskier emerging markets where rates were higher, making investments more lucrative.

But the Fed's warnings since May about the impending pullback in bond buying caused a big shift in those financial flows, sending some of that money back into the lower-risk U.S. market as interest rates rise again and growth prospects improve.

Some developing countries have seen their currencies and stock prices tumble as a result of that shift.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-10-US-Global-Economy/id-c643e6ba0c1d4fd280f7a5da905707b0
Tags: CDOT   Manny Diaz   Edward Snowden  

Video Games as Modern Art: MoMA Acquires Pong, Minecraft & First Console

Do video games like Pong and Space Invaders belong in Museum of Modern Art? Or does putting a game console from 1972 on a pedestal constitute an Emperor's New Video Game-style overreach? A debate is raging, and MoMA is at the center of it.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Bqavw9TxPbw/video-games-as-modern-art-moma-acquires-pong-minecraf-638367128

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Bid cities, presidential contenders to make case

With the voting just over two months away, the bidding for the 2020 Olympics and the race for the IOC presidency are reaching a pivotal stage.

Both campaigns come together this week in Lausanne as the three bid cities and six presidential candidates make vital presentations to the voters ? the 100-plus members of the International Olympic Committee.

Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo make their pitches to the IOC assembly on Wednesday, with the Turkish city having the most at stake following the wave of anti-government protests that swept the country. The presidential contenders present their platforms to the members on Thursday.

Both events could prove decisive going into the final weeks before the IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where the members will vote by secret ballot for the host city on Sept. 7 and the new president on Sept. 10.

The presentations will be made behind closed doors at the Beaulieu convention center. The bid cities will each have 45 minutes to make their case, with another 45 minutes allotted for questions and answers. The presidential candidates will each have 15 minutes to outline their manifestos.

Overseeing the proceedings will be IOC President Jacques Rogge, who steps down in September after 12 years in office. He served an initial eight-year term and was elected to a second four-year mandate.

Vying to succeed Rogge are: IOC vice presidents Thomas Bach of Germany and Ng Ser Miang of Singapore, executive board members Sergei Bubka of Ukraine and C.K. Wu of Taiwan, and former board members Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico and Denis Oswald of Switzerland.

The presidential race is generating more buzz than the 2020 contest among the members.

"Basically the most important thing we do is to elect a president," senior Norwegian IOC member Gerhard Heiberg told The Associated Press. "It's more important than organizing cities for the games. We have many challenges coming.

"We will elect a person for eight years. This person will mean a lot of difference in the IOC, the thinking, the strategy. I meet a lot of IOC members and they talk about nothing else."

Bach has been considered a front-runner, but favorites don't always win in the unpredictable world of IOC elections.

All six candidates have already sent their campaign platforms to the members. Now the voters will get a chance to see and hear them in person, the first time such presentations have been organized for an IOC presidential campaign.

The six will speak one after the other. It is not a debate and no questions will be allowed. The IOC says it wants to keep the format to a controlled, civil campaign.

"They have 15 minutes to stand in front of the session, to show their personality and to lay out their programs for the eight years coming," Heiberg said. "This will give a good indication, especially for members who don't know the six, to finally get to see them performing."

The candidates' platforms have steered away from revolutionary change and centered on common themes: reaching out to youth, stepping up the fight against doping, reviewing the bidding process for the games, improving the system for selecting sports on the Olympic program, raising the 70-year age limit for IOC members.

"The race really starts this week," Heiberg said.

By contrast, the 2020 bid cities have been campaigning for nearly two years already, but this will be the first time they appear before the IOC assembly. All three are bringing high-ranking delegations to try to earn the members' trust and confidence.

"The ones who don't take this seriously make a big mistake," Heiberg said.

It was at a similar meeting in 2009 that Rio de Janeiro seized the momentum in the race for the 2016 Games, focusing on the theme that the Olympics had never been to South America and Brazil was an emerging economic force.

Last week, the IOC released a technical evaluation report on the 2020 bid cities to give members as much factual information as possible. The report did not rank or grade the cities, but Tokyo appeared to come out the best overall.

Istanbul is bidding for a fifth time, Madrid is back for a third consecutive time and Tokyo is trying for a second time in a row.

Istanbul is inviting the IOC to take the Olympics to a new region, to a predominantly Muslim country for the first time, to a city that connects Asia and Europe. Tokyo claims to be a "safe pair of hands" at a time of global economic and political uncertainty. Madrid, despite Spain's severe financial troubles, boasts that it would spend far less money than the others on infrastructure because 80 percent of its venues are already in place.

No city has more at stake than Istanbul, following the unprecedented street demonstrations across the country in June. Prime Minister Recep Tayypip Erdogan, facing the biggest challenge to his 10-year rule, has come under international criticism for his crackdown on the protests. Turkey's image has also been hit by a spate of doping cases in recent weeks.

"Although the games will be seven years ahead, what's going on (in Turkey) right now is important to the voting of the members," Heiberg said. "There will be many questions, absolutely. This is a good opportunity for Turkey, for Istanbul, to answer the questions and lay it out in the open how they think, what they're going to do about it."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-07-02-OLY-IOC-Meetings/id-9861195dea4f479aa1c2a352e130b928

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'First bionic eye' retinal chip for blind

June 29, 2013 ? University Hospitals (UH) Eye Institute will be one of the first medical centers in the United States to offer the Argus? II Retinal Prosthesis System ("Argus II").

The Argus II is the first and only "bionic eye" to be approved in countries throughout the world, including the U.S. It is used to treat patients with late stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Argus II was developed by Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., located near Los Angeles.

In preparation for the launch of Argus II later this year, implanting centers, including UH, will soon begin to accept consultations for patients with RP. UH is one of a select number of medical centers in 12 major markets in the nation, and the only one in Cleveland and the state of Ohio, chosen by Second Sight to offer the Argus II, which received FDA approval earlier this year.

Argus II works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera, housed in the patient's glasses, into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. Patients then learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby regaining some visual function.

"This is a remarkable breakthrough," said Suber S. Huang, MD, MBA, Director, UH Eye Institute's Center for Retina and Macular Disease, who also served as the Independent Medical Safety Monitor for clinical trials of the system and gave the summary closing to the FDA Ophthalmic devices panel.

"The system offers a profound benefit for people who are blind from RP and who currently have no therapy available to them. Argus II allows patients to reclaim their independence and improve their lives."

RP is a rare inherited, degenerative eye disease that often results in profound vision loss to the level of bare light perception or no light perception. It affects nearly 100,000 Americans. Noted Cleveland businessman and professional sports owner Gordon Gund is blind from this disease.

"We are thrilled that several of the nation's top hospitals will be the first to offer Argus II to patients in the U.S.," said Brian Mech, Vice President of Business Development, Second Sight. "After an intensive and difficult selection process, these sites were chosen for their cutting-edge approach to medicine and unparalleled commitment to patient care. We are confident that RP patients seeking treatment at these centers will benefit greatly from the best-in-class services these sites provide."

Argus II had more than 20 years of work in the field, three clinical trials, more than $100 million in public investment by the National Eye Institute, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation, and an additional $100 million in private investment.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/Rl1fuNyJzyA/130629164628.htm

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Japan PM Abe hops and flips in voter-wooing game app

TOKYO (Reuters) - It's a bird, it's a plane ... It's a cartoon version of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, hopping and somersaulting his way through the sky in a smartphone game app his party hopes will lure young voters ahead of a July 21 election.

A growing number of Japanese politicians are venturing into the cyber world after a legal change allowed the use of social media in campaigns, setting up Facebook pages and twitter accounts to woo voters before a July upper house election.

But the app, which has the imprimatur of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), goes further in its effort to court tech-savvy youngsters, who tend to be apathetic about politics and put off by traditional campaigns featuring white-gloved politicians blaring their names and slogans over loudspeakers.

"There were worries that some young people thought the LDP was distant, that we lacked intimacy ... that they didn't know anything about us," Takuya Hirai, a lawmaker and head of the LDP's internet strategy team, told Reuters.

"We're hoping the game will get people interested in politics in a way they never were before," Hirai said.

In the game, called "Abe Pyon" - "Abe Hops" - using a cutesy word most often applied to rabbits - a business suit-clad Abe avatar bounds high into the clouds via floating platforms. Missing a platform causes him to plunge to his "death".

As he soars higher, players rack up points, gaining access to facts about Abe and information about the LDP. High scores also allow the avatar to change clothes, whisking him from his grey suit and into jeans or gym wear.

The ultimate prize is a bouncing Abe in a superhero cape.

Abe's app is a rare venture for a world leader. Tech-savvy U.S. President Barack Obama featured in a superhero game in 2009, but it wasn't officially endorsed.

Some voters said they felt fonder of Abe after playing.

"It really gets you thinking about politics. It makes me think I should vote for him," said Emi Yamada, a 22-year-old student.

Others were skeptical. "I reckon it's just a bit of fun and nothing more," said Mizuki Kimura.

Abe, an avid Facebook user who rebounded to power for a rare second term in December after his party's big win, is widely tipped to lead the ruling bloc to victory in the election.

(Reporting by Ruairidh Villar, Writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Linda Sieg)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-pm-abe-hops-flips-voter-wooing-game-052517441.html

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Google developing its own video game console, says report

Video games

Yannick LeJacq NBC News contributor

14 hours ago

Google

Google is reportedly developing an Android-powered video game console, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The first round of third-party Android-powered video game consoles is now arriving, yet Google ? godfather of the Android OS ? may be at work on its own gaming device.

That's according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported on Thursday afternoon that the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant is developing gaming hardware as a preemptive move against looming competition from its rival Apple. No, not Sony or Nintendo or Microsoft, but Apple, which has been subject to a seemingly endless torrent of rumors surrounding a possible gaming console or at least gaming functionality built into a TV or set-top box.

Thing is, there's already been a proliferation of Android-fueled gaming consoles in recent months, all of which are trying to bill themselves as leaner and faster alternatives to the big three home entertainment console manufacturers' new wares. This week alone saw the launch of the Kickstarter darling OUYA, while Nvidia announced a delay of the Shield, a much-anticipated high-end mobile console. Earlier this month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, the gaming peripheral company MadCatz announced an Android-powered "micro-console" known as the "M.O.J.O.," and that's not even to mention the other Kickstarter star, the GameStick, which amassed six times its fundraising goal in February.

So what does Google have to gain amidst the glut of upstart gaming consoles that it has helped foster, however inadvertently? As the WSJ mentioned, the prospect of competition from Apple is likely a deciding factor. But the company could also be trying to gain a foothold amid the clutter of Android-powered competition as it did for smartphones with the acquisition of Motorola in 2012 ?except without the added pressure of footing a $12.5 billion bill in the process.

In addition to the news about a new gaming console, the Wall Street Journal also reported that Google is working on an Android-powered watch (another rival to a rumored Apple device) and a new version of the Nexus Q media streaming device. While the report didn't say which one, the Journal claimed that Google is planning to release at least one of these products this fall.

A representative from Google was not immediately available for comment on this story.

Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: ylejacq@gmail.com.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2de62836/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cgoogle0Edeveloping0Eits0Eown0Evideo0Egame0Econsole0Esays0Ereport0E6C10A477154/story01.htm

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DC picks rock club owner to run Lincoln Theatre

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The owner of a well-known D.C. rock club will soon begin operating the city's historic Lincoln Theatre where Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald once performed.

Mayor Vincent Gray announced Thursday that the entertainment group I.M.P was selected as the winning bidder to operate the theater in the city's U Street neighborhood beginning in September. The city says I.M.P brings a proven track record. It currently operates the 9:30 Club and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md.

In a statement, Seth Hurwitz of I.M.P says it's an honor to be entrusted with bringing new life to an old theater. He says many shows that don't fit in the 9:30 Club will have a place at the Lincoln.

In late 2011, the theater was threatened with closure after the city cut off subsidies and began seeking new management.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dc-picks-rock-club-owner-run-lincoln-theatre-200609219.html

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'Lola' tops 204 mph, breaking electric vehicle land speed record

Autos

Paul A. Eisenstein The Detroit Bureau

14 hours ago

Drayson Racing/The Detroit Bureau

Drayson Racing team members celebrate their land speed record.

With all the emphasis on electric propulsion these days, it might seem hard to believe that it?s been 39 years since General Electric ? yes, GE ? set the FIA World Electric Land Speed Record. But that achievement has finally been bested by a sleek, Le Mans Prototype dubbed ?Lola.?

On an RAF airbase in Yorkshire, England, an 850-horsepower battery-electric built by Drayson Racing hit a top speed of 204.185 miles per hour during a pair of runs down a 3-kilometer (nearly 2-mile) track. That was a full 29 mph faster than the 175 mph record set way back in 1974 by the Battery Box General Electric.

?I?m delighted we?ve beaten the record tonight and can show the world EVs can be fast and reliable,? said Lord Paul Drayson, whose firm built the 2,200 battery, and who personally piloted it during the record run. ?It is not the outright speed of 204.185 mph that is most impressive about this record, but the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000 kilogram electric vehicle on a short runway over a measured mile.?

Officially known as the Drayson B12 69/EV the enclosed racer used ultra-light carbon fiber for its chassis and body to compensate for the heft of a 30 kilowatt-hour battery pack. It also relied on custom-designed Michelin LM P1 tires.

Though most folks likely associate electric propulsion with ? but slow ? vehicles like the Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt, the reality is that battery power can also deliver some impressive performance as an electric motor yields maximum torque the moment it starts spinning.

Drayson?s Lola can launch from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds, for example, and keep gaining speed until it?s pushed well past 200 mph. In fact, Lord Drayson is apparently looking to soon beat his own record, tweeting to fans that on an additional run the car was ?very lively at 216 mph.?

While he may be celebrating victory, the claimed record could come under dispute. The Buckeye Bullet, an EV built by students at Ohio State University, actually achieved a 307.7 mph average during two runs at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in August 2010 ? and was seen as capable of reaching 400 mph. But that effort was not officially sanctioned by the FIA, leaving GE?s Battery Box the certified record-holder for another three years.

To proponents, what matters most is the increasing focus in electric racing and battery propulsion, in general.

There?s clearly a lot more interest, for example, has nudged its ZEOD RC battery race car up to 186 mph, and Top EV Racing claims to have launched its battery dragster from 0 to 100 in a mind-boggling 0.8 seconds.

What could put battery racing square in the public eye is the new Formula E series set to launch in 2015. Not surprisingly, Lord Drayson is looking to participate when that program gets underway.

Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2defcb70/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Clola0Etops0E20A40Emph0Ebreaking0Eelectric0Evehicle0Eland0Espeed0Erecord0E6C10A464452/story01.htm

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