'Downton Abbey' preview set to air in December

NEW YORK (AP) — PBS is setting the table for the "Downton Abbey" feast ahead with a preview special planned for broadcast in December.

PBS' "Masterpiece" says "Return to Downton Abbey" will air Dec. 1 with what's billed as "a tantalizing taste" of the upcoming season, which begins Jan. 5.

It also will look at the series' past three seasons.

Susan Sarandon serves as host for the special, a mix of behind-the-scenes footage, clips of favorite moments and interviews with cast members. Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Jim Carter and Shirley MacLaine are among the stars who will appear in the special.

"Downton Abbey," the wildly popular drama about British class and culture a century ago, will move into the Roaring Twenties in the new season.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/downton-abbey-preview-set-air-december-174142507.html
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Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM

Prior to the introduction of the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM ($799 direct) lens shutterbugs with APS-C D-SLR cameras?had to make a choice when it came to lens functionality. You can go with a zoom lens and cover a range of focal lengths, but even top-end models only opened up to f/2.8. Or you can opt for a prime lens with a wide aperture, but it doesn't support zooming. Sigma aims to change that with this lens. It's impressively sharp, but it is a bit large compared with slower zooms or fast prime lenses, and its zoom range is modest at 1.9x. It stills earns high marks and our Editors' Choice award; the lens is an accomplishment, and the fact that it doesn't come with a sky-high price tag means that more photographers will actually be able to shoot with it.

The lens is currently available to order in Sigma, Nikon, and Canon mounts, but Sigma also plans on offering it for Pentax and Sony/Minolta cameras. It isn't compatible with full-frame bodies; the image circle only covers an APS-C sensor. This makes it an EF-S lens for Canon shooters, a DX lens for Nikon owners, and a DT lens for Sony D-SLR owners. The 18-35mm zoom range is roughly equivalent to 27-52.5mm in full-frame terms, which captures a wide angle view when zoomed out, and narrows to a standard-angle when zoomed all the way in. It doesn't offer quite the zoom range as the 18-55mm lens that likely came with your D-SLR, but it captures about four times the light on the wide end, and about ?six times as much at the 35mm setting.

In addition to the obvious advantages when shooting in low light, using the lens at f/1.8 will allow you to capture images with a shallow depth of field, but just how shallow the focus is will depend on the focal length and your distance from your subject. When shooting at a wide angle it's difficult to get the bokeh look in your images, unless you are working fairly close to your subject. You'll get a shallower depth of field by backing up and zooming in. When conditions are right, the lens is able to capture photos with a smooth, blurry, out of focus area behind your subject.

The 18-35mm is fairly large. It measures 4.8 by 3.1 inches (HD) and weighs about 1.8 pounds. The barrel is made of a composite material that feels sturdy and is cool to the touch, just like metal. There are two knurled control rings?the zoom ring is close to the base of the lens, and the manual focus ring is just behind the front element. The only control switch is a toggle to change between autofocus and manual focus mode. The filter thread accommodates a 72mm filter, and the lens is able to focus from 11 inches to infinity. A reversible lens hood and carrying case are included. Its size is not out of line when compared with the Pentax SMC DA Star 16-50mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM lens, which has a narrower maximum aperture but a longer zoom range.

I used Imatest to check the sharpness and distortion characteristics when paired with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. The lens is impressively sharp at f/1.8, recording 2,383 lines per picture height using a center-weighted test; that's much better than the 1,800 lines we require for an image to be called sharp. Edges are also impressive, scoring an average of 1,868 lines, which would be impressive even for a prime lens. Stopping down to f/2.8 improves the overall score to 2,423 lines with edge performance just shy of 1,900 lines. Resolution at its widest focal length peaks at f/4; the lens manages 2,377 lines there.

Zooming to 24mm improves sharpness. At f/1.8 the lens scores 2,470 lines, and it peaks at f/4 at 2,690 lines. At 28mm the lens manages 2,457 lines at f/1.8 and improves to 2,562 lines by f/4. Zooming all the way in to 35mm delivers 2,399 lines at f/1.8 and peaks at 2,528 lines at f/4. Edge performance when zoomed in a bit is consistently good; better than 1,800 lines at every tested focal length and aperture.

The 18-35mm does show some distortion. At 18mm it records about 1.9 percent barrel distortion, which gives a slight outward curve to images. This is something that you can correct in software if it distracts from a shot. It's just on the cusp of being mild enough to ignore, but a few ticks with Lightroom's distortion slider adjustment tool will correct it. At 24mm the distortion is almost nonexistent, only 0.5 percent pincushion?which makes lines curve slightly inwards. You get a bit more of this, about 1 percent, at 28mm, and 1.2 percent at 35mm.

To put this performance in perspective, compare the Sigma 18-35mm with the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM zoom. That lens is priced at just under $1,200 and features an aperture that is more than an f-stop slower. It does have a slightly longer zoom range and optical stabilization?which is lacking from the Sigma lens. It's also sharp, but not through the entirety of its zoom range. It's great at 17mm, where it notches 2,039 lines, and still good at 35mm where it hits 1,952 lines. Zoomed in at 55mm the score drops to a disappointing 1,516 lines, though it does sharpen up when stopped down. The Canon lens does a better job controlling distortion on the wide end; it shows only 1 percent barrel distortion at 17m, and its 1.6 percent pincushion distortion at 35mm and 55mm is not out of line with the Sigma.

But the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM captures twice as much light as an f/2.8 zoom and delivers more consistent sharpness than Canon's 17-55mm. When you factor in its attractive price, you have a lens that earns our Editors' Choice award. It's a great option for anyone who is looking to upgrade from an 18-55mm kit lens, as you are no longer required to choose between a lens with a very wide aperture or one that zooms. The only real knock on the 18-35mm is its rather modest zoom range. Photographers who are used to an 18-55mm lens may find themselves missing a bit of telephoto reach. But the range it does cover replaces three classic full-frame primes?a 28mm, 35mm, and 50mm?all at f/1.8 maximum aperture. That's an impressive feat for a zoom.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/xGSsge0QF9M/0,2817,2420577,00.asp

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Evernote for Windows Touch gets a redesign, two-step verification

Couple of updates to Evernote for Windows Touch users: for starters, the app's hub page has been redesigned for a better fingers-on experience, bringing handy columns for notes, shortcuts created across different platforms and Notebooks. The Windows Touch app now includes support for Evernote Business, as well -- Notebooks created for that side of things will appear in blue, so you can tell them apart from the personal notebooks sitting in your hub. Also new is two-step verification for added security. A full list of updates to the pachyderm-friendly note-taking platform can be found in the source link below.

Filed under: Software, Microsoft

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Evernote Blog

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Obama holds a national security team meeting on Egypt at the White House (Washington Bureau)

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Apple reportedly hires Hulu exec to negotiate future media deals

If you believe past rumors, Apple has sometimes had difficulty getting the media industry to agree with its vision of the future. Its solution may be to hire from the industry itself -- Bloomberg claims that Apple has recruited Hulu's Senior VP of Marketing and Distribution, Pete Distad, to negotiate future media deals. Neither company is commenting on the rumor, although the executive may not be immediately necessary: Bloomberg also believes that Apple is near an agreement that would bring Time Warner Cable subscribers and services to Apple TV boxes within "a few months." Whether or not that deal happens, we suspect that Distad could at least help realize Tim Cook's grand vision for TV.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple

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Source: Bloomberg

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/apple-reportedly-hires-hulu-exec-to-negotiate-future-media-deals/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Tens of thousands of Egyptians flood streets to demand Morsi quit

NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Cairo where a large crowd of people are gathered to protest Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's handling of the country one year after he was elected.

By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

Tens of thousands of opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi flooded the streets of Cairo as competing protests turned lethal on Sunday.

Violent clashes left three dead, the country's minister of health said.

Suspected pro-Morsi Islamists on a motorbike opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the southern city of Assiut, killing one and wounding seven, security officials told The Associated Press.

Protesters infuriated by that killing then marched to the office of the Freedom and Justice party, the political wing of Morsi?s Muslim Brotherhood, where they were met with a hail of bullets, leaving two people dead, according to the AP. An anti-Morsi protester was murdered earlier in the town of Beni Suef, the AP reported.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans against him and brotherhood members during a protest at Tahrir square in Cairo June 30, 2013.

Hours after the prearranged protests began, swarms of anti-government demonstrators were still massed in Tahrir Square, crucible of the 2011 so-called ?Arab Spring? uprisings that overthrew autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.

?The people want the fall of the regime!? they chanted. Many waved national flags ? only this time not in defiance of an aging dictator but as a form of dissent against their first-ever elected leader, who only assumed office a year ago to the day.

Meanwhile, legions of Morsi?s allies remained outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque near the Ittihadiya presidential palace. Some wore military-style regalia and carried shields and clubs, purportedly as a defense against potential attacks from the opposition, according to the AP.

Not including the casualties from Sunday, at least seven people, including an American college student in Maryland, had already been killed in clashes between opposition protesters and Morsi-allied groups in the last week.

Sunday?s protests represent the peak of a year of turbulence and turmoil in which Egypt has been rocked by scores of political crises, dozens of bloody clashes and a declining economy that has set off a spate of power outages, fuel shortages, skyrocketing prices and routine lawlessness and crime.

The opposing sides of the conflict are representative of the bitter political, social, and religious divisions in contemporary Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood and other hard-line groups form the backbone of the pro-Morsi camp. Many of Morsi's proponents have characterized the protests as a conspiracy by Mubarak's political allies to return the former leader to power.

The anti-government movement brings together secular and liberal Egyptians, moderate Muslims and Christians, and wide swaths of the general public the opposition says has rejected the Islamists and their regime.

Liberal leaders say nearly half all Egyptian voters ? some 22 million people ? have signed a petition calling for new elections.

"We all feel we're walking on a dead-end road and that the country will collapse," said Mohamed El-Baradei, a former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and now liberal party leader in his homeland.

Despite mounting pressure, Morsi did not buckle in advance of the preplanned protests, dismissing the widespread dissent as an undemocratic assault on his electoral legitimacy, Reuters reported.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans against him and members of the Muslim Brotherhood during a demonstration in Tahrir square in Cairo June 30, 2013.

But he also proposed to make changes to the new, Islamist-inflected constitution, saying he was not personally responsible for controversial clauses on religious authority, which stirred up liberal animosity and triggered the popular revolt, according to Reuters.

For many Egyptians, though, all the turmoil that has followed the Arab Spring has just made life harder. Standing by his lonely barrow at an eerily quiet downtown Cairo street market, 23-year-old Zeeka was afraid more violence was coming.

"We're not for one side or the other," he told Reuters. "What's happening now in Egypt is shameful. There is no work, thugs are everywhere ... I won't go out to any protest.

"It's nothing to do with me. I'm a tomato guy."

Visiting sub-Saharan Africa, President Barack Obama has cautioned that rancor in the largest Arab country could rattle the region.

Protests in Egypt have occurred around the country in the last few days, with more expected Sunday. The demonstrations come two years after former president Hosni Mubarak was removed from power, and some are hoping the current protests will unseat Egypt's current leader Muhammed Morsi. NBC's Aymen Mohyeldin reports.

"Every party has to denounce violence," Obama said in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday. "We'd like to see the opposition and President Morsi engage in a more constructive conversation about how they move their country forward because nobody is benefiting from the current stalemate."

?Washington has evacuated non-essential personnel and redoubled security at its diplomatic missions in Egypt.

Reuters and The Associated Press?contributed to this report.

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Russian booster rocket crashes in Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (AP) ? A Russian booster rocket carrying three satellites crashed at a Russia-leased cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday shortly after the launch.

The Proton-M booster unexpectedly shut down the engine 17 seconds into the flight and crashed some 2 kilometers (over a mile) away from the Baikonur launch pad, the Russian Space Agency said in a statement.

Russian officials said there were no casualties or damage immediately reported. Meanwhile, the Interfax news agency quoted Kazakh Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Bozhkov as saying that the burning rocket fuel has blanketed the launch pad with a toxic cloud. But he said authorities have yet to determine its potential danger to the environment.

Another Proton-M booster crashed in Baikonur in August 2012 when it failed to place two satellites into orbit. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev chided officials after that incident, saying that Russia had lost ten satellites in seven failed launches in just over a year.

Russian space officials have blamed the failures on manufacturing flaws and engineering mistakes. But observers say that the problem is rooted in a post-Soviet industrial meltdown that has stalled the modernization of the space industry.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-07-02-Russia-Failed%20Launch/id-6c5f658a70054ccdaea7517c88c16dee

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Sears, Penney sever ties with Paula Deen

FILE - In this Dec. 30, 2010 file photo, Paula Deen speaks in Pasadena, Calif. Sears Holdings Corp. announced Friday, June 28, 2013, that it is cutting ties with Southern celebrity chef Deen, adding to the list of companies severing their relationship following revelations that Deen used racial slurs in the past. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 30, 2010 file photo, Paula Deen speaks in Pasadena, Calif. Sears Holdings Corp. announced Friday, June 28, 2013, that it is cutting ties with Southern celebrity chef Deen, adding to the list of companies severing their relationship following revelations that Deen used racial slurs in the past. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Paula Deen's media and merchandising empire is collapsing.

Sears, J.C. Penney and Walgreen said Friday that they're cutting ties with Paula Deen, adding to the growing list of companies severing their relationship following revelations that the Southern celebrity chef used racial slurs in the past.

Meanwhile, Paula Deen's publisher has canceled a deal with her for multiple books, including an upcoming cookbook that was the No. 1 seller on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Ballantine Books announced Friday it would not release "Paula Deen's New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up," which was scheduled for October and was the first of a five-book deal announced early last year. Interest in it had surged as Deen, who grew up in Albany, Ga., and specializes in Southern comfort food, came under increasing attack for acknowledging she had used the N-word.

Ballantine, an imprint of Random House Inc., said it had decided to cancel the book's publication after "careful consideration." It had no comment beyond what was in its brief statement, spokesman Stuart Applebaum said.

Sears Holdings Corp. said it will phase out all products tied to the brand after "careful consideration of all available information."

"We will continue to evaluate the situation," said the parent company of Sears and Kmart stores.

Both Sears and Kmart sold Paula Deen products.

In an email statement to The Associated Press, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said it decided to discontinue selling Deen-branded products.

Walgreen Co. said it was phasing out Paula Deen-branded products, which included tortilla chips and a selection of soups.

QVC took a more gentle approach on Friday and said that it has decided to "take a pause" from Deen. The home shopping network said that Deen won't be appearing on any upcoming broadcasts, and it will phase out her product assortment on its online sales channels over the next few months.

"We all think it's important, at this moment, for Paula, to concentrate on responding to the allegations against her and on her path forward," said Mike George, QVC's president and CEO in a letter posted on the company's website.

But QVC left the door open for Deen to return. "Some of you wonder whether this is a 'forever' decision ? whether we are simply ending our association with Paula," continued George. "We don't think that's how relationships work. People deserve second chances."

Deen issued her own statement that was posted on QVC's webpage. "As you know, I have some important things to work on right now, both personally and professionally. And so we've agreed that it's best for me to step back from QVC and focus on setting things right

The developments are the latest blows dealt to Deen since comments she made in a court deposition became public.

Earlier this week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Home Depot all announced that they plan to stop selling cookware and other items with Deen's brand.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Novo Nordisk said it and Deen have "mutually agreed to suspend our patient education activities for now." Deen, who specializes in Southern comfort food, had been promoting the company's drug Victoza since last year, when she announced she had Type 2 diabetes

On Monday, pork producer Smithfield Foods dropped her as a spokeswoman.

Caesars Entertainment also announced that Paula Deen's name is being stripped from four buffet restaurants owned by the company. Caesars said that its decision to rebrand its restaurants in Joliet, Ill.; Tunica, Miss.; Cherokee, N.C.; and Elizabeth, Ind., was a mutual one with Deen.

Last week, the Food Network said that it would not renew her contract.

The stakes are high for Deen, who Forbes magazine ranked as the fourth highest-earning celebrity chef last year, bringing in $17 million. She's behind Gordon Ramsay, Rachael Ray and Wolfgang Puck, according to Forbes.

Paula Deen Enterprises, which spans from TV shows to cookware and furniture, generates total annual revenue of nearly $100 million, estimates Burt Flickinger III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.

But Flickinger estimates she could lose up to 80 percent of her business by next year as suppliers extricate themselves from their agreements.

Not every company Deen does business with has severed ties with the celebrity chef. Among other stores that sell her products, Kohl's Corp. declined to comment, while Macy's Inc. said Thursday that it continues to "monitor the situation."

Hoffman Media LLC, the publisher of "Cooking with Paula Deen" magazine, announced Friday that it was continuing to publish her bi-monthly publication.

"Hoffman Media has worked closely with Ms. Deen since 2005," said Eric Hoffman, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Hoffman Media in a statement. "The recent images portrayed by the media do not reflect the person we know on a personal or a professional level."

___

AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this report

Follow Anne D'Innocenzio on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-28-Paula%20Deen/id-7e4f3ca5d3b64f6b82071bfe5c52b9da

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NASA telescope to probe long-standing solar mystery

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A small NASA telescope was poised for launch on Thursday on a mission to determine how the sun heats its atmosphere to millions of degrees, sending off rivers of particles that define the boundaries of the solar system.

The study is far from academic. Solar activity directly impacts Earth's climate and the space environment beyond the planet's atmosphere. Solar storms can knock out power grids, disrupt radio signals and interfere with communications, navigation and other satellites in orbit.

"We live in a very complex society and the sun has a role to play in it," said physicist Alan Title, with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California, which designed and built the telescope.

Scientists have been trying to unravel the mechanisms that drive the sun for decades but one fundamental mystery endures: How it manages to release energy from its relatively cool, 10,000 degree Fahrenheit (5,500 degree Celsius) surface into an atmosphere that can reach up to 5 million degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 million Celsius).

At its core, the sun is essentially a giant fusion engine that melds hydrogen atoms into helium. As expected, temperatures cool as energy travels outward through the layers. But then in the lower atmosphere, known as the chromosphere, temperatures heat up again.

Pictures and data relayed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, telescope may finally provide some answers about how that happens.

The 4-foot (1.2-meter) long, 450-pound (204-kg) observatory will be observing the sun from a vantage point about 400 miles above Earth. It is designed to capture detailed images of light moving from the sun's surface, known as the photosphere, into the chromosphere. Temperatures peak in the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona.

All that energy fuels a continuous release of charged particles from the sun into what is known as the solar wind, a pressure bubble that fills and defines the boundaries of the solar system.

"Every time we look at the sun in more detail, it opens up a new window for us," said Jeffrey Newmark, IRIS program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The telescope is scheduled to be launched aboard an Orbital Sciences Corp Pegasus rocket on Friday at 10:27 p.m. EDT. Pegasus is an air-launched system that is carried aloft by a modified L-1011 aircraft that will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California about 55 minutes before the scheduled launch.

The rocket is released from the belly of the plane at an altitude of about 39,000 feet so it can ignite and carry the telescope into orbit.

IRIS, which cost about $145 million including the launch service, is designed to last for two years.

(Editing by Kevin Gray and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-telescope-probe-long-standing-solar-mystery-172112310.html

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The Great American Nerdvel: Progress Report (Unqualified Offerings)

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Egypt court: Brotherhood members planned jailbreak

CAIRO (AP) ? An Egyptian court on Sunday said Muslim Brotherhood members conspired with Hamas, Hezbollah and local militants to storm a prison in 2011 and free 34 Brotherhood leaders, including the future President Mohammed Morsi.

The court statement read by judge Khaled Mahgoub named two members of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood ? Ibrahim Haggag and Sayed Ayad ? to be among the alleged conspirators in the attack on Wadi el-Natroun prison on Jan. 29, 2011.

It is the first statement by a court that holds members of the three Islamist groups ? the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian Hamas, and Lebanon's Hezbollah ? responsible for a series of jailbreaks during the chaos of Egypt's 2011 uprising. Two other prisons in which Hamas and Hezbollah members were held were also attacked.

Morsi and other Brotherhood leaders have maintained that they were freed by local residents. Hamas, the Palestinian chapter of the Brotherhood, has denied involvement in the attacks on prisons.

The court statement is likely to further fuel opposition to Morsi's rule just a week before his opponents are scheduled to stage massive protests to force him out of office. The planned June 30 demonstrations mark his first anniversary in office as Egypt's first freely elected leader.

The past year has seen growing polarization as Egypt struggles with a host of problems that many accuse Morsi of failing to effectively tackle. They include surging crime, rising prices, power cuts, fuel shortages and unemployment.

Morsi has not spoken publicly about his escape from Wadi el-Natroun since he gave an account of what happened in a frantic phone call he made to Al-Jazeera Mubasher TV moments after being freed.

"From the noises we heard ... It seemed to us there were (prisoners) attempting to get out of their cells and break out into the prison yard and the prison authorities were trying to regain control and fired tear gas," Morsi said in the call.

By the time they got out, the prison was empty, and there was no sign of a major battle, he said.

The prison breaks took place during the 18-day popular uprising that toppled the 29-year regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The breaks led to a flood of some 23,000 criminals onto the streets, fueling a crime wave that continues to this day. Among those who escaped were around 40 members of Hamas and Hezbollah as well as the 34 Brotherhood leaders.

A total of 26 top police, prison and intelligence officials have testified before the court, which held its hearings in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. Some gave their testimony in closed session.

The case began in January when a former inmate appealed a three-month sentence passed by a lower court that convicted him of escaping Wadi el-Natroun. The defendant was acquitted by judge Mahgoub, who on Sunday referred to prosecutors the testimonies and evidence gathered during the trial on the jailbreak at Wadi el-Natroun in order "to reveal the truth and honor the state's right to mete out justice."

There was no immediate word from the office of the country's top prosecutor on whether his office planned to take up the case.

In Egypt's polarized political climate, Morsi's opponents have been using his escape from Wadi el-Natroun against him, saying friends of the Brotherhood violated the country's security and fed its instability. The eagerness of some in the intelligence and security agencies to blame Hamas could in part reflect resentment of the Brotherhood's ties with the militant group, which they have long seen as a threat.

The Wadi el-Natroun prison in which Morsi and his Brotherhood comrades were held is part of a four-jail complex northwest of Cairo. A total of 11,171 inmates were released from the complex. Thirteen inmates were also killed, according to Mahgoub, who said the attackers used machine-guns mounted on pickup trucks and SUVs as well as huge earth-moving vehicles that demolished parts of the walls and gates.

The last two hearings of the trial witnessed scuffles between supporters and opponents of Morsi. Sunday's hearing was held amid tight security with stringent control over who gets to enter the tiny courtroom.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-court-brotherhood-members-planned-jailbreak-093513553.html

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How Messy Is Your Computer's Desktop?

We all aspire to a certain amount of digital desktop cleanliness, but I think rather few of us actually keep up on it. As the days go by, the clutter builds bit by bit, and it's just irritating enough to be unpleasant, but not a big enough deal to actually clean up.

So where are you in the cycle right now? How messy is your desktop? Show it off, and no quick cleaning sprees. Not until after you share, anyway.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-messy-is-your-computers-desktop-542920795

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Sharp PG-LX3500

The Sharp PG-LX3500 ($990 street) stands out for a spare, utilitarian design. It's a little weak on convenience features, like providing every connector you could possibly want, but it's strong on the basics, like image quality and brightness. Built around a DLP chip with XGA (1024 by 768) resolution, it weighs a little less than six pounds and is rated at 3,500 lumens, putting it at the high end of the brightness range for its weight class. If you need an XGA projector that can throw a high-quality, bright image, that should be enough to pique your interest.

The PG-LX3500 is comparable in most ways to the LCD-based Editors' Choice Epson PowerLite 93+ and the DLP-based Dell 1430X. All three offer a 1.2x zoom lens, they all weigh about the same, and they're all appropriate for a small to mid-size conference room or classroom. The PG-LX3500 offers the brightest rating of three, but I'll come back to the issue of brightness shortly.

Basics and Setup
The PG-LX3500 weighs 5 pounds 11 ounces, and it measures 3.7 by 12.1 by 9.7 inches (HWD). That puts it in a size and weight class that makes it potentially portable, but more likely to wind up permanently installed or on a cart. Unlike some other models in this weight class, however, it doesn't come with a carrying case, so you'll need to buy one separately if you want to carry it with you.

Setup is standard fare. Plug in the appropriate cables, adjust the 1.2x zoom, and adjust the focus. The choice of connectors is a little lean, with image inputs limited to HDMI, VGA with both computer and component video support, and composite video. Notable for its absence is any kind of USB port, which not only means you can't read files from a USB key, but there's no way to connect to your computer for images using Direct USB or even for using your projector's remote for controlling the mouse cursor.

Brightness
Although the 3,500-lumen rating is obviously a plus for the PG-LX3500, it's important to keep that number in perspective when you compare it with the 1430X at 3,200 lumens or the Epson 93+ at 2,600 lumens. Keep in mind that perception of brightness is logarithmic, so even though 3,500 is about a third more lumens than 2,600, that much brighter an image won't look anywhere near a third brighter to the human eye.

Also keep in mind that brightness comparisons are complicated by the relationship between white brightness, which the rating is based on, and color brightness. If there is any difference between the two measurements, as there usually is with DLP projectors, the difference can affect both color quality and the brightness of color images. (For more on color brightness, see Color Brightness: What It Is, and Why You Should Care.)

That said, the PG-LX3500 was easily bright enough for the 98-inch diagonal image I used in my tests to stand up to the ambient light in a well-lit room. For lower ambient light levels or smaller image sizes, you can switch to Eco mode, to any of several preset modes with lower brightness levels, or both.

Image Quality and Other Issues
Even more important than brightness is that the PG-LX3500 delivers excellent data image quality, sailing through our standard suite DisplayMate tests. Yellow was a little dark in all modes, but colors were otherwise well saturated and suitably eye catching. Color balance was excellent in all modes, with neutral grays at all levels from white to black.

More important for data images is that the projector held detail well, with text characters highly readable at sizes as small as 6.8 points, although white text on black was a little easier to read than black on white, because the strokes of the characters were just a bit thicker. Also demanding mention is that the image was as rock solid with an analog connection as with a digital connection, even on screens that are designed to bring out pixel jitter.

Video quality for the PG-LX3500 is limited by the native 1,024-by-768 resolution, but is best described as watchable, which is better than many data projectors can manage.

It also helps that the PG-LX3500 doesn't show many rainbow artifacts, which is always a potential issue for single-chip DLP projectors. I see these artifacts easily, but with data screens I saw them only in one test image that's designed to bring them out. With video, I saw them a little more frequently, as is typical, but still far less often than with most DLP projectors. It's unlikely that many people, if any, will find the rainbow artifacts annoying.

One last plus for the PG-LX3500 is the surprisingly capable 2-watt speaker. Despite the low wattage, the speaker delivers enough volume to fill a small conference room. The audio quality isn't terrific, but it's a lot better than many projectors offer.

The Sharp PG-LX3500 comes up a little short on connection options and on convenience features like a large zoom or the ability to read files from a USB key. If you need those features, you'll obviously have to look elsewhere. However, it earns most of its points on data image quality and brightness, which are precisely the most important features for any data projector. And unlike many DLP projectors, it resists showing rainbows well enough to make video watchable. If you need a 1,024-by-768 projector that does the basics well, it can easily be the right choice for your needs.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Gd_o2-n7_Do/0,2817,2420806,00.asp

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Rear seat design -- a priority for children's safety in cars

Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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Contact: Dana Mortensen
mortensen@email.chop.edu
267-426-6092
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

New report recommends technology, policy changes to better protect older children and adolescents in crashes

2013 A research report released today from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) provides specific recommendations for optimizing the rear seat of passenger vehicles to better protect its most common occupants children and adolescents. By bringing technologies already protecting front seat passengers to the rear seat and modifying the geometry of the rear seat to better fit this age group, the US could achieve important reductions in serious injury and death. Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for children older than 4 years and resulted in 952 fatalities in 2010 for children age 15 and younger.

"Our review of the current science and data regarding rear seat occupant safety found clear evidence that use of a child restraint system (CRS) is protective for younger children. However, older children who have outgrown child safety seats and booster seats are at greater risk of injury," says Kristy Arbogast, PhD, lead author of the report and director of engineering at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP. "Many technologies that protect front seat passengers, such as load limiters and pretensioners, are not commonly found in the rear seat even though sled tests and computer modeling suggest that these seat belt features have the potential to reduce the risk of serious head and chest injury for rear seated occupants."

In addition to front seat restraints, CHOP researchers suggest that cues can be taken from booster seat design to determine how to keep kids who have outgrown boosters properly positioned in vehicle seat belts so the restraint can perform properly. They propose that adjustments to the geometry of the rear seat including shorter seat cushions, lower seat belt anchorages and contoured seats could increase comfort, keep the shoulder belt in position and, in side impact crashes, reduce lateral movement.

"For children under age 13, the rear seat is still the safer seating position as compared to the front seat of passenger vehicles," says Dr. Arbogast. "But we can do a better job at protecting children who have outgrown add-on restraints."

The report authors recommend the development of regulatory procedures or vehicle performance assessment programs for consumers that evaluate protection of rear seat occupants. Common vehicle rating systems do not evaluate the safety of rear seat occupants in frontal crashes. In addition to engineering solutions, the report also recommends policies and programs to increase rear seat restraint use, which remains lower than front seat restraint use and is a key risk factor for dying in a crash. Additional research is needed to further inform these priorities.

###

To download the full report, made possible with support from Global Automakers, and additional materials including a one-page overview of CIRP's recommendations and an infographic, visit http://injury.research.chop.edu.

About The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was established in 1998 to advance the safety and health of children, adolescents, and young adults through comprehensive research that encompasses before-the-injury prevention to after-the-injury healing. The Center's multidisciplinary research team, with expertise in Behavioral Sciences; Medicine; Engineering, Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Human Factors; Public Health; and Communication, translates rigorous scientific research into practical tools and guidelines for families, professionals, and policymakers to ensure research results extend to the real world. For more information on the Center and its research initiatives, visit injury.research.chop.edu.

About Global Automakers

The Association of Global Automakers represents international motor vehicle manufacturers, original equipment suppliers, and other automotive-related trade associations. We work with industry leaders, legislators, and regulators to create the kind of public policy that improves vehicle safety, encourages technological innovation, and protects our planet. Our goal is to foster a competitive environment in which more vehicles are designed and built to enhance Americans' quality of life. For more information, visit http://www.globalautomakers.org.

---

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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: 29-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dana Mortensen
mortensen@email.chop.edu
267-426-6092
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

New report recommends technology, policy changes to better protect older children and adolescents in crashes

2013 A research report released today from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) provides specific recommendations for optimizing the rear seat of passenger vehicles to better protect its most common occupants children and adolescents. By bringing technologies already protecting front seat passengers to the rear seat and modifying the geometry of the rear seat to better fit this age group, the US could achieve important reductions in serious injury and death. Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for children older than 4 years and resulted in 952 fatalities in 2010 for children age 15 and younger.

"Our review of the current science and data regarding rear seat occupant safety found clear evidence that use of a child restraint system (CRS) is protective for younger children. However, older children who have outgrown child safety seats and booster seats are at greater risk of injury," says Kristy Arbogast, PhD, lead author of the report and director of engineering at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP. "Many technologies that protect front seat passengers, such as load limiters and pretensioners, are not commonly found in the rear seat even though sled tests and computer modeling suggest that these seat belt features have the potential to reduce the risk of serious head and chest injury for rear seated occupants."

In addition to front seat restraints, CHOP researchers suggest that cues can be taken from booster seat design to determine how to keep kids who have outgrown boosters properly positioned in vehicle seat belts so the restraint can perform properly. They propose that adjustments to the geometry of the rear seat including shorter seat cushions, lower seat belt anchorages and contoured seats could increase comfort, keep the shoulder belt in position and, in side impact crashes, reduce lateral movement.

"For children under age 13, the rear seat is still the safer seating position as compared to the front seat of passenger vehicles," says Dr. Arbogast. "But we can do a better job at protecting children who have outgrown add-on restraints."

The report authors recommend the development of regulatory procedures or vehicle performance assessment programs for consumers that evaluate protection of rear seat occupants. Common vehicle rating systems do not evaluate the safety of rear seat occupants in frontal crashes. In addition to engineering solutions, the report also recommends policies and programs to increase rear seat restraint use, which remains lower than front seat restraint use and is a key risk factor for dying in a crash. Additional research is needed to further inform these priorities.

###

To download the full report, made possible with support from Global Automakers, and additional materials including a one-page overview of CIRP's recommendations and an infographic, visit http://injury.research.chop.edu.

About The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was established in 1998 to advance the safety and health of children, adolescents, and young adults through comprehensive research that encompasses before-the-injury prevention to after-the-injury healing. The Center's multidisciplinary research team, with expertise in Behavioral Sciences; Medicine; Engineering, Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Human Factors; Public Health; and Communication, translates rigorous scientific research into practical tools and guidelines for families, professionals, and policymakers to ensure research results extend to the real world. For more information on the Center and its research initiatives, visit injury.research.chop.edu.

About Global Automakers

The Association of Global Automakers represents international motor vehicle manufacturers, original equipment suppliers, and other automotive-related trade associations. We work with industry leaders, legislators, and regulators to create the kind of public policy that improves vehicle safety, encourages technological innovation, and protects our planet. Our goal is to foster a competitive environment in which more vehicles are designed and built to enhance Americans' quality of life. For more information, visit http://www.globalautomakers.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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/2013-04/chop-rs042813.php

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Woman unknowingly takes 30 pounds of pot across U.S.-Mexico border

Bricks of confiscated marijuana (Getty Images)

This is awkward. A woman who lives in Mexico and works in San Diego called the cops on herself when she apparently unknowingly transported 30 pounds of marijuana across the border.

According to a report by NBC New York, the unnamed 33-year-old drove her car to work Friday morning, arrived early and was sitting in her car in a parking lot around 4 a.m. when two unidentified men approached her car and began removing packages from underneath it.

The driver surprised the men, who got in their car and drove off. She called the police, who discovered 30 pounds of pot divided into six packages attached by heavy-duty magnets to the undercarriage of the vehicle.

Who put the drugs there?the woman said it wasn?t her?remains a mystery. Police tell NBC New York that no arrests have been made.

Officials want to remind people who regularly cross the border to check their car?as some people become targets by drug cartels as unwitting mules in the narcotics business.

Regular border travelers may be a boon to drug smugglers.

Last year, CNN reported a similar story of a
regular commuter from his home in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to the University of Texas at El Paso.

Even though the man, who goes under a fake name to protect his identity, said he was targeted and ferried drugs without his knowledge, he was sentenced to six months in prison.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/woman-unknowingly-takes-30-pounds-pot-across-u-144432116.html

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Fallout for states rejecting Medicaid expansion

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rejecting the Medicaid expansion in the federal health care law could have unexpected consequences for states where Republican lawmakers remain steadfastly opposed to what they scorn as "Obamacare."

It could mean exposing businesses to Internal Revenue Service penalties and leaving low-income citizens unable to afford coverage even as legal immigrants get financial aid for their premiums. For the poorest people, it could virtually guarantee that they will remain uninsured and dependent on the emergency room at local hospitals that already face federal cutbacks.

Concern about such consequences helped forge a deal in Arkansas last week. The Republican-controlled Legislature endorsed a plan by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to accept additional Medicaid money under the federal law, but to use the new dollars to buy private insurance for eligible residents.

One of the main arguments for the private option was that it would help businesses avoid tax penalties.

The Obama administration hasn't signed off on the Arkansas deal, and it's unclear how many other states will use it as a model. But it reflects a pragmatic streak in American politics that's still the exception in the polarized health care debate.

"The biggest lesson out of Arkansas is not so much the exact structure of what they are doing," said Alan Weil, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. "Part of it is just a message of creativity, that they can look at it and say, 'How can we do this in a way that works for us?'"

About half the nearly 30 million uninsured people expected to gain coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul would do so through Medicaid. Its expansion would cover low-income people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $15,860 for an individual.

Middle-class people who don't have coverage at their jobs will be able to purchase private insurance in new state markets, helped by new federal tax credits. The big push to sign up the uninsured starts this fall, and coverage takes effect Jan. 1.

As originally written, the Affordable Care Act required states to accept the Medicaid expansion as a condition of staying in the program. Last summer's Supreme Court decision gave each state the right to decide. While that pleased many governors, it also created complications by opening the door to unintended consequences.

So far, 20 mostly blue states, plus the District of Columbia, have accepted the expansion.

Thirteen GOP-led states have declined. They say Medicaid already is too costly, and they don't trust Washington to keep its promise of generous funding for the expansion, which mainly helps low-income adults with no children at home.

The remaining states are still weighing options. Concerns about the unintended consequences could make the most difference in those states.

A look at some potential side effects:

?The Employer Glitch

States that don't expand Medicaid leave more businesses exposed to tax penalties, according to a recent study by Brian Haile, Jackson Hewitt's senior vice president for tax policy. He estimates the fines could top $1 billion a year in states refusing.

Under the law, employers with 50 or more workers that don't offer coverage face penalties if just one of their workers gets subsidized private insurance through the new state markets. But employers generally do not face fines under the law for workers who enroll in Medicaid.

In states that don't expand Medicaid, some low-income workers who would otherwise have been eligible have a fallback option. They can instead get subsidized private insurance in the law's new markets. But that would trigger a penalty for their employer.

"It highlights how complicated the Affordable Care Act is," said Haile. "We wanted to make sure the business community understood."

?The Immigrant Quirk

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, called attention this year to this politically awkward problem when she proposed that her state accept the Medicaid expansion.

Under the health law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line ? $11,490 for an individual, $23,550 for a family of four ? can only get coverage through the Medicaid expansion. But lawfully present immigrants who are also below the poverty level are eligible for subsidized private insurance.

Congress wrote the legislation that way to avoid the controversy associated with trying to change previous laws that require legal immigrants to wait five years before they can qualify for Medicaid. Instead of dragging immigration politics into the health care debate, lawmakers devised a detour.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, it was a legislative patch.

Now it could turn into an issue in states with lots of immigrants, such as Texas and Florida. It could create the perception that citizens are being disadvantaged versus immigrants.

?The Fairness Argument

Under the law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line can only get taxpayer-subsidized coverage by going into Medicaid. But other low-income people making just enough to put them over the poverty line can get subsidized private insurance through the new state markets.

An individual making $11,700 a year would be able to get a policy. But someone making $300 less would be out of luck, dependent on charity care at the emergency room.

"Americans have very strong feelings about fairness," said Weil. "The notion of 'Gee, that's just not fair' is definitely a factor in the discussion."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fallout-states-rejecting-medicaid-expansion-072613081.html

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Chechnya Brothers Are Boston Marathon Bombers: One Dead, One On Loose

Chechnya Brothers Are Boston Marathon Bombers: One Dead, One On Loose

Police swarmed a Boston suburb this morning as an “armed and dangerous” suspect of the Boston marathon bombings is at large. The drama unfolded last night after the two suspects, brothers from Chechnya, were in a gun battle that left one officer dead at the MIT campus. The two marathon bombers are brothers from Chechyna. ...

Chechnya Brothers Are Boston Marathon Bombers: One Dead, One On Loose Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/04/chechnya-brothers-are-boston-marathon-bombers-one-dead-one-on-loose/

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Spotlight: The Morning-After Pill | What the Health Magazine

At the beginning of this month, a judge in New York City demanded removal of the age restriction on the morning-after pill birth control prescription. The consequential legal battle has raised the following question: Is it ethical to give girls under the age of 17 access to the morning-after pill, or are these individuals not yet mature enough to use such a contraceptive?

What is it?

According to Mayo Clinic, the morning-after pill is a ?type of emergency birth control (contraception). The purpose of emergency contraception is to prevent pregnancy after a woman has had unprotected sex.?

In other words, it is an extreme version of birth control that needs to be taken within 72 hours of intercourse in order to ensure pregnancy does not occur. It does not, however, stop implantation (the early stage of pregnancy when an embryo attaches to the wall of a uterus) ? it is not the abortion pill.

What kinds of morning-after pills are there?

There are three forms of morning-after pills that are legal in the United States:?Plan B One-Step, Next Choice, and Ella

What are the differences?

All three contain roughly the same ingredients, though a package of Plan B One-Step costs between $35 and $60, significantly cheaper than the other two.

So what are some reasons why girls under the age of 18 should be given access to this pill?

• Young women should have control over their own bodies; they are the ones that live with it for the rest of their lives. Access to emergency contraceptives can be another step in equal rights for women.
• Adolescents who want to have sex are going to have sex, whether their parents or anyone else tell them not to. America must be realistic so that adolescents can act responsibly.
• 30 states in the US have the legal age of sexual consent set at 16, and 9 states have it set at 17. That?s 39 states, or 78% of the US, that can legally have sex under the age of 18.?If you can make the decision to have sex under the age of 18 without your parents? consent, then you should also have the ability to be responsible about it and have access to birth control without your parents? consent.

• Having access to other forms of contraception such as the morning after pill can be helpful in cases of missed birth control doses and forgetting a condom. It?ll decrease teen pregnancies and abortions.

• Decreasing unwanted pregnancies will decrease all those negative social, economic, mental, physical, and emotional health effects for children.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that reducing the unintended pregnancy rate is a national public health goal. This court decision will help the goal prosper.

Well that sounds great?. So why is it controversial?

• Like I said before ? teens like sex. Many argue that having unlimited access to the morning-after pill without their parents? knowledge may lead to excessive sexual promiscuity. Endless access could give kids the idea that they can have frivolous sex with an ?easy solution.? The morning after-pill should be used in only the most necessary cases.
• Sexual promiscuity can lead to not only pregnancy but also to STDS. Many young people do not realize that the morning-after pill does not prevent STDs, and so they forgo condoms in order to have unprotected sex, thinking that they can simply use the morning-after pill later.
• The morning-after pill does have a few side effects, including nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, menstrual changes, dizziness, breast tenderness, vomiting, and diarrhea.
• It arguably makes kids grow up too fast and takes away a parent?s control. When kids don?t have to ask for permission, it?s just another way parent?s lose control, says Mona Davids, president of the New York City Parents Union. In a talk with HLN?s ?Evening Express,? she stated that the court decision ??gives a young child, between the age of 14 and 17, a chemical drug and hormonal cocktail without the knowledge of the parent, not knowing the medical history or if that child has any kind of drug allergies.?

56% of Americans believe the morning after pill should be made available to all women under the age of 18 without a prescription, while 44% of Americans are against it. Which side do you agree with? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

By?Madysan Foltz

Photo courtesy of?www.swissinfo.ch?

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Source: http://whatthehealthmag.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/spotlight-the-morning-after-pill/

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Arctic nearly free of summer sea ice during first half of 21st century, experts predict

Apr. 12, 2013 ? For scientists studying summer sea ice in the Arctic, it's not a question of "if" there will be nearly ice-free summers, but "when." And two scientists say that "when" is sooner than many thought -- before 2050 and possibly within the next decade or two.

James Overland of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Muyin Wang of the NOAA Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington, looked at three methods of predicting when the Arctic will be nearly ice free in the summer. The work was published recently online in the American Geophysical Union publication Geophysical Research Letters.

"Rapid Arctic sea ice loss is probably the most visible indicator of global climate change; it leads to shifts in ecosystems and economic access, and potentially impacts weather throughout the northern hemisphere," said Overland. "Increased physical understanding of rapid Arctic climate shifts and improved models are needed that give a more detailed picture and timing of what to expect so we can better prepare and adapt to such changes. Early loss of Arctic sea ice gives immediacy to the issue of climate change."

"There is no one perfect way to predict summer sea ice loss in the Arctic," said Wang. "So we looked at three approaches that result in widely different dates, but all three suggest nearly sea ice-free summers in the Arctic before the middle of this century."

Overland and Wang emphasized that the term "nearly" ice free is important as some sea ice is expected to remain north of the Canadian Archipelago and Greenland.

• The "trendsetters" approach uses observed sea ice trends. These data show that the total amount of sea ice decreased rapidly over the previous decade. Using those trends, this approach extrapolates to a nearly sea ice-free Arctic by 2020.
• The "stochasters" approach is based on assuming future multiple, but random in time, large sea ice loss events such as those that occurred in 2007 and 2012. This method estimates it would take several more events to reach a nearly sea ice-free state in the summer. Using the likelihood of such events, this approach suggests a nearly sea ice-free Arctic by about 2030 but with large uncertainty in timing.
• The "modelers" approach is based on using the large collection of global climate model results to predict atmosphere, ocean, land, and sea ice conditions over time. These models show the earliest possible loss of sea ice to be around 2040 as greenhouse gas concentrations increase and the Arctic warms. But the median timing of sea ice loss in these models is closer to 2060. There are several reasons to consider that this median timing of sea ice loss in these models may be too slow.

"Some people may interpret this to mean that models are not useful. Quite the opposite," said Overland. "Models are based on chemical and physical climate processes and we need better models for the Arctic as the importance of that region continues to grow."

Taken together, the range among the multiple approaches still suggests that it is very likely that the timing for future sea ice loss will be within the first half of the 21st century, with a possibility of major loss within a decade or two.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. James E. Overland, Muyin Wang. When will the summer arctic be nearly sea ice free? Geophysical Research Letters, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/grl.50316

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/UlBj8_buaZk/130412142848.htm

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Hapyrus Launches Service For Amazon Redshift, An Emerging Alternative To Hadoop And Hive

Hapyrus has launched FlyData, technology that enables it to automatically upload and migrate data to Amazon Redshift, the data-warehouse service that can scale to petabyte size. Amazon has claimed that Redshift will increase the speed of query performance when analyzing any size data set, using the same SQL-based business intelligence tools analysts use today. Hapyrus Co-Founder Koichi Fujikawa says their service, a big data router, makes Redshift even more effective and an alternative to Hadoop and Hive, the most widely recognized combination used for processing and analyzing data. After setup, FlyData runs in the background, moving the data to Redshift. Fujikawa said Hapyrus sets up a virtual private cloud on AWS. Customers can integrate their own virtual private network to transfer the data. Hapyrus competes against the likes of Informatica and Talend. Its current focus is on integrating with AWS, but going forward it will integrate data from a variety of sources. Fujikawa said in an email that Informatica and Talend provide complex data-integration solutions for big enterprise customers — mainly for on-premise systems. “We provide our data-integration service for cloud components like Redshift for any size of companies, from startups to relatively big organizations,” he said. Fujikawa says Redshift can be 10 times faster than?Hadoop?and Hive. Customers he hears from say they are seeking alternatives for the everyday kind of work that needs to get done. They can get stymied by the time and the expense that a query takes when using Hadoop and Hive. But there are also complexities with using Redshift, as Airbnb discovered: First, in order to load your data into Redshift, it has to be in either S3 or Dynamo DB already. The default data loading is single threaded and could take a long time to load all your data. We found breaking data into slices and loading them in parallel helps a lot. On its nerd blog, Airbnb said Redshift lacks some of the features that come with Hadoop. But data analysts are liking it so much that they want to use it pretty much exclusively. The Airbnb nerd blog makes the point that, in the end, Redshift and Hadoop may be more compatible than anything else. “Redshift, as a data warehouse, should be compared to Vertica, Greenplum, AsterData, Impala, Hadapt, and CitusData,” said Drawn to Scale Co-Founder Bradford Stephens in a recent email interview. “They’re just different things.” The smallest of startups take

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/8LXyaBnQthk/

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