Late arrival for rare butterflies

17 May 2013 Last updated at 07:49

The UK's spring butterflies are being welcomed by enthusiasts, but weeks later than they usually arrive.

The second-coldest March on record contributed to the delayed emergence of many rare species, according to the charity Butterfly Conservation.

"First sightings" recorded by the public showed the insects typically appeared a fortnight later than normal.

One rare species - the grizzled skipper - emerged a month later than last year.

The pearl-bordered fritillary was another rare butterfly to make a late show. Last year the insects were first spotted on 1 April but were not recorded until 27 April this year.

Threatened wood whites could be seen by 10 April last year, but this year were delayed until early May.

And the Duke of Burgundy butterfly made an appearance in late April this spring, around three weeks later than last year.

Last spring saw butterflies emerging earlier than normal following an unusually mild February and March. But the extreme wet weather that followed resulted in a terrible year for most species.

Butterfly Conservation's findings, which focus on the UK's rare and threatened species, show a large contrast with last years' spring sightings.

Week-long lives

Butterflies emerging late from their chrysalises is not necessarily a problem for the insects, but the weather over the next few weeks may be crucial to their success.

Wet weather prevents butterflies from flying, which they need to do to find mates and plants on which to lay their eggs, explained Butterfly Conservation surveys manager Richard Fox.

"If those [weather] conditions carry on for the duration of your life as a butterfly - which might only be a week at best - then you leave no offspring."

And this year, butterflies appear to be in "very low numbers" following last year's poor weather.

"They really need some fine spring weather and a successful breeding season in order to start rebuilding their populations," said Mr Fox.

He added that generally the UK's butterflies have suffered decades of decline, largely due to human destruction of their natural habitats.

"Nowadays these butterflies are so endangered... that a few years of bad weather might well drive colonies to extinction. And that's obviously exactly what we want to try and avoid."

Butterfly Conservation revealed its findings, gathered from public sightings of butterflies around the UK, ahead of Save Our Butterflies week which aims to introduce people to rare and threatened spring butterflies through a series of events and butterfly walks.

Mr Fox commented: "People tend to think of butterflies as at the height of summer and indeed that is when you tend to see most butterflies in your garden.

"But actually we have quite a lot of species, including some of our rare and threatened ones, which only come out at this time of year."

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/22546675

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May 2 (Reuters) - Few sports fluctuate as much as horse racing and even fewer races are as unpredictable as the Kentucky Derby. This year's race, at Churchill Downs on Saturday, is no different and looms as one of the most open in decades. The early favorite is Orb, who won the Florida Derby, one of the key traditional lead-up races, in brilliant fashion. His main challenger, at least in betting circles, is the unbeaten Verrazano, but this is anything but a two-horse race. With a capacity-field of 20 impeccably bred three-year-olds, the 139th Kentucky Derby has all the makings of a classic. ...

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Obama blesses Mexican security plan, eyes deeper business ties

By Mark Felsenthal and Steve Holland

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama gave his blessing on Thursday to a new security arrangement with Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto, in which Mexico will make reducing violence a priority over hunting drug cartel kingpins in the war against organized crime.

The two presidents said they also want to step up trade and business ties that have been overshadowed by the battle against drug trafficking.

"It is obviously up to the Mexican people to determine their security structures and how it engages with other nations including the United States," Obama said at a joint press conference with Pena Nieto.

At the start of a two-day visit to Mexico, Obama sought to draw attention to the emerging might of Latin America's No.2 economy, even as worries about containing drug-trafficking and related violence remained an inescapable subtext.

The two leaders pledged to begin holding cabinet level meetings focused on boosting business between the two countries and to expand educational changes. The first high-level meeting is set for the fall.

The U.S. president pledged support for Pena Nieto's new policy of restricting contacts with the United States on drugs and drug-related violence to a single point, Mexico's Ministry of the Interior. He acknowledged that the United States can play a role with its own domestic policies.

"We look forward to continuing our good cooperation in any way," he said. "I also reaffirmed our determination in the United States to meet our responsibilities to reduce the demand for illegal drugs and to combat the southbound flow of illegal guns and cash."

Mexico's new "single-door" policy would be an abrupt change from the wide latitude the U.S. government enjoyed in working with Mexican officials across agencies under Pena Nieto's predecessor, Felipe Calderon.

The change has raised questions about Mexico's commitment to combating drug trafficking and drug-related violence.

Pena Nieto plans to shift the weight of combating organized crime from the military onto a new militarized police force, but has made few concrete changes so far, instead seeking to focus public attention on the economy rather than violence.

The Mexican government has said that killings linked to organized crime fell 14 percent in the first four months of Pena Nieto's presidency, but 4,249 people still were killed during that period.

More than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed in drug violence in Mexico since 2007, and gang-style murders continue to provide lurid headlines.

Some question whether Calderon's aggressive policies, which focused on eradicating gang leaders, has been successful or whether it has generated additional violence as rival factions vie for control of turf.

Pena Nieto said his approach will emphasize reducing bloodshed and will operate more smoothly.

"Under this new strategy, what we are trying to do is put in order, institutionalize the security cooperation we have today with the United States, and establish clear and singular channels to help us be more efficient and achieve better results," Pena Nieto said in Spanish.

RIGHTS WORRIES

In a letter to Obama ahead of his visit, rights group Human Rights Watch urged him to review the United States' public security approach with Mexico, rapping his administration for offering "uncritical support" for Calderon's policies and citing a "dramatic increase" in rights abuses.

Both Obama and Pena Nieto have said they want the visit to focus on economic issues rather than security. Pena Nieto is eager to underscore Mexico's recent run of solid economic growth, fueled in part by its increasing attractiveness as a manufacturing hub.

The leaders pledged to conclude a trade agreement with Asia-Pacific nations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, by the end of the year.

By highlighting Mexico's progress in moving up the economic ladder, Obama is also emphasizing that his own domestic goal of reforming U.S. immigration laws will not promote an exodus of Mexicans into the United States.

"Part of what we discussed is the importance of getting it done, precisely because we do so much business between our two countries," he said, referring to immigration reform that has drawn bipartisan support in Washington. "If we're going to get that done, now's the time to do it."

The two presidents at their meeting discussed a much publicized energy agreement that would remove obstacles to expanding deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. They said in a joint statement that they looked forward to implementation of the deal.

The United States has yet to finalize the deal, known as the Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement, which provides guidelines for drilling in an area of the Gulf that straddles the U.S.-Mexican boundary.

The deal is seen as the key to opening a new era of cooperation on oil production between the two countries. Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex needs technology and investment to boost its stagnant production, and U.S. companies are eager to help.

(Editing by Simon Gardner and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-blesses-mexican-security-plan-eyes-deeper-business-010528504.html

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NKorea sentences US man in possible bid for talks

A photo provided by Bobby Lee, shows Kenneth Bae, right, and Bobby Lee together when they were freshmen students at the University of Oregon in 1988. Bae is being detained in North Korea and could face the death penalty if he is convicted on charges that he planned to overthrow the North Korean government. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Bobby Lee)

A photo provided by Bobby Lee, shows Kenneth Bae, right, and Bobby Lee together when they were freshmen students at the University of Oregon in 1988. Bae is being detained in North Korea and could face the death penalty if he is convicted on charges that he planned to overthrow the North Korean government. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Bobby Lee)

In this March 20, 2013 photo, a North Korean flag hangs inside the interior of Pyongyang?s Supreme Court. North Korea says it will soon deliver a verdict in the case of detained American Kenneth Bae it accuses of trying to overthrow the government, further complicating already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington. The announcement about Bae comes in the middle of a lull after weeks of war threats and other provocative acts by North Korea against the U.S. and South Korea. Bae, identified in North Korean state media by his Korean name, Pae Jun Ho, is a tour operator of Korean descent who was arrested after arriving with a tour on Nov. 3 in Rason, a special economic zone bordering China and Russia. (AP Photo)

In this March 20, 2013 photo, a North Korean flag hangs inside the interior of Pyongyang?s Supreme Court. North Korea says it will soon deliver a verdict in the case of detained American Kenneth Bae it accuses of trying to overthrow the government, further complicating already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington. The announcement about Bae comes in the middle of a lull after weeks of war threats and other provocative acts by North Korea against the U.S. and South Korea. Bae, identified in North Korean state media by his Korean name, Pae Jun Ho, is a tour operator of Korean descent who was arrested after arriving with a tour on Nov. 3 in Rason, a special economic zone bordering China and Russia. (AP Photo)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? A Korean American detained for six months in North Korea has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state, the North's media said Thursday ? a move that could trigger a visit by a high-profile American if history is any guide.

Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

With already abysmal U.S.-North Korean ties worsening since a long-range rocket-launch more than a year ago, Pyongyang is fishing for another such meeting, said Ahn Chan-il, head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies think tank in South Korea.

"North Korea is using Bae as bait to make such a visit happen. An American bigwig visiting Pyongyang would also burnish Kim Jong Un's leadership profile," Ahn said. Kim took power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011.

The authoritarian country has faced increasing criticism over its nuclear weapons ambitions. Disarmament talks including the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia fell apart in 2009. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions have not encouraged the North to give up its small cache of nuclear devices, which Pyongyang says it must not only keep but expand to protect itself from a hostile Washington.

Pyongyang's tone has softened somewhat recently, following weeks of violent rhetoric, including threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. There have been tentative signs of interest in diplomacy, and a major source of North Korean outrage ? annual U.S.-South Korean military drills ? ended Tuesday.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was working with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang to confirm the report of Bae's sentencing. The United States lacks formal diplomatic ties with North Korea and relies on Sweden for diplomatic matters involving U.S. citizens there. The Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, Karl-Olof Andersson, referred queries to the State Department.

"While Washington will do everything possible to spare an innocent American from years of hard labor, U.S. officials are aware that in all likelihood the North Korean regime wants a meeting to demonstrate that the United States in effect confers legitimacy on the North's nuclear-weapon-state status," Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said in an email.

Cronin called Bae's conviction "a hasty gambit to force a direct dialogue with the United States."

Bae's trial on charges of "committing hostile acts" against North Korea took place in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. The announcement came just days after KCNA said Saturday that authorities would soon indict and try him. KCNA has referred to Bae as Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling for his Korean name.

Bae, from Lynnwood, Washington, was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, state media said. The exact nature of Bae's alleged crimes has not been revealed.

Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to North Korea to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the United States did not answer calls seeking comment Thursday.

There are parallels to a case in 2009. After Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.

They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong Il. U.S.-North Korea talks came later that year.

In 2011, Carter visited North Korea to win the release of imprisoned American Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the North from China.

Korean American Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.

Jun and Gomes are also devout Christians. While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.

U.N. and U.S. officials accuse North Korea of treating opponents brutally. Foreign nationals have told varying stories about their detentions in North Korea.

The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guest house instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.

Ali Lameda, a member of Venezuela's Communist Party and a poet invited to the North in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator, said that he was detained in a damp, filthy cell without trial the following year after facing espionage allegations that he denied. He later spent six years in prison after a one-day trial, he said.

___

Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Seoul and Lou Kesten in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-02-NKorea-American%20Detained/id-7f5e4a2eb079453ca6adbaba7fcaf898

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Researchers estimate a cost for universal access to energy

May 2, 2013 ? Universal access to modern energy could be achieved with an investment of between 65 and 86 billion US dollars a year up until 2030, new research has shown.

The proposed investments are higher than previous estimates but equate to just 3-4 per cent of current investments in the global energy system.

The findings, which have been presented today, 3 May, in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters, also include, for the first time, the policy costs for worldwide access to clean-combusting cooking fuels and stoves by 2030.

Access to electricity and clean-combusting cooking fuels and stoves could combat the estimated four million deaths a year from household air pollution caused by traditional cooking practices.

In their study, the researchers calculate that improved access to modern cooking fuels could avert between 0.6 and 1.8 million premature deaths in 2030 and enhance wellbeing substantially.

The international group of researchers estimate that an additional generation capacity of between 21 and 28 gigawatts would be required to provide a modest amount of electricity to all rural households. This is less than the annual additions to generation capacity being made by China alone. They estimate this will cost around 180 to 250 billion dollars over the next 20 years with dedicated policies and measures also needed.

Added to this will be the policy costs to help ease the transition to clean cooking for more than 40 per cent of the world's population. The policies would include subsidies supporting the costs of new fuels, new stoves, and improved biomass stoves. The researchers estimate the costs to be in the region of 750 to 1000 billion dollars over the next 20 years.

Lead author of the paper, Dr Shonali Pachauri, a researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, said: "Our analysis indicates that without new policies and efforts, universal access to modern energy will not be achieved by 2030. Actually, for cooking, the situation may even worsen.

"The scale of investment required is small from a global perspective, though it will require additional financing for nations that are least likely to have access to sources of finances. But the benefits could be enormous.

"Our work shows that achieving this goal will result in significant health benefits and is likely to have negligible impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, even in the case where all populations switch to fossil-based LPG cooking, which is unlikely to be the case in reality."

The researchers arrived at the estimated costs using two modelling frameworks to explore the effectiveness of alternate policy pathways.

To estimate the total investment needed for expanding grid electricity access to rural populations, they included the costs of grid extension, operation and maintenance of the power system and investments for additional electricity generation.

They state that without policies to accelerate electrification, between 480 and 810 million additional people are estimated to gain access to electricity by 2030, but 600 to 850 million people in rural South and Pacific Asia and sub-Saharan Africa -- the main regions of interest in this study -- could still remain without electricity.

The United Nations (UN) declared that 2012 was the "International Year of Sustainable Energy for All" with universal access to modern energy by 2030 as one of the stipulated objectives. This research provides new insights on how to achieve these objectives.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Institute of Physics (IOP), via AlphaGalileo.

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. Shonali Pachauri, Bas J van Ruijven, Yu Nagai, Keywan Riahi, Detlef P van Vuuren, Abeeku Brew-Hammond, Nebojsa Nakicenovic. Pathways to achieve universal household access to modern energy by 2030. Environmental Research Letters, 2013; 8 (2): 024015 DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024015

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/most_popular/~3/ieAG4yPoKJo/130502225855.htm

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Disney pulls out of Bangladesh in wake of factory tragedy

The Walt Disney Co. is pulling out of Bangladesh and several other developing countries, in part because of fatal accidents in factories that produced branded merchandise for Western firms.

Announcement of the move follows last week?s collapse of a Bangladesh garment factory building, a tragedy that may be the worst such accident in world history. The official death toll is now more that 500 and keeps climbing as rescue workers continue the slow process of working through building rubble.

Disney officials said their pull-out decision was actually made in March, after a fire in a Bangladesh factory last November that killed more than 100. The company has told licensees that it wants to phase out production of Disney-brand items made in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Belarus, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

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Disney said it relied on World Bank Governing Indicators, which measure rule of law, corruption, and other national characteristics, to help make its decision.

?After much thought and discussion we felt this was the most responsible way to manage the challenges associated with our supply chain,? said Bob Chapek, president of Disney Consumer Products, according to a CNN report.

Are Western firms such as Disney, the Gap, and Benetton in part responsible for the conditions that lead to these tragedies in low-wage nations? Disney?s move shows that some feel their reputations are at risk, at the least, if they are tied too closely to foreign workplace tragedies.

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Customers may avoid brands they suspect of abetting worker abuse. And a number of international nongovernment organizations today stand ready to publicize poor conditions found in factories linked to major nation retail brands.

But these NGOs don?t necessarily want their pressure to result in pull-outs. They want corporations to use their economic muscle to improve conditions.

The Washington-based Workers Rights Consortium, for instance, says it works with big companies and their foreign licenses to try to remedy problems before issuing public reports.

?The WRC views ?cutting and running? from a factory as a serious abrogation of a licensee?s responsibilities,? says the group in a statement.

Worker groups often want foreign firms to stay to preserve jobs and economic development. Some experts say the blame for tragedies such as the Bangladesh building collapse should be directed at local and national authorities who have the responsibility to protect their workers.

?By misassigning the responsibility for the recent tragedies to global retailers, western media and consumer movements allow the real culprits to get away scot-free and further diminish the likelihood of governance reform in poor countries,? wrote Jagdish Bhagwati, senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Amrita Narlikar, director of the Center for Rising Powers at the University of Cambridge, last month in the British magazine Prospect.

Other experts put the problem in a larger political frame. The real problem in Bangladesh has been the complex trade apparatus erected by the US, which consumes most of the cheap clothing produced in developing nations, wrote Mallika Shakya, an assistant professor of sociology at South Asian University in Delhi, in the Indian newspaper The Hindu.

Between 1974 and 2004, the US Multi-Fiber Arrangement virtually dictated, item by item, the amount of clothing that third-world countries could export to the US, according to Ms. Shakya. Potential rivals to America such as China got small quotas, while Bangladesh and other unprepared nations got large ones.

The result was that Bangladeshi authorities could not keep up with the explosive growth of their country's garment industry.

?That is a reason why most factory buildings are found to be built haphazardly, without acquiring the necessary clearance from state agencies,? wrote Ms. Shakya.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/disney-pulls-bangladesh-workers-safer-152340191.html

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Valeant adjusted profit up; raises profit forecast

(Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc , Canada's biggest publicly traded drugmaker, reported a 12 percent rise in adjusted quarterly profit due to higher product sales and raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast.

The acquisitive drugmaker said it now expected an adjusted profit, which it calls cash earnings, of between $5.55 and $5.85 per share, up from its previous forecast of $5.45 to $5.75.

The company earned $405.2 million, or $1.30 per share, on an adjusted basis in the first quarter, a rise of 12 percent from $360.3 million in the same quarter last year.

Total revenue jumped 25 percent to $1.07 billion. Product sales rose 38 percent, driven by robust growth in Poland, Russia, Brazil, South East Asia and South Africa.

"Our emerging markets business performed extremely well in the first quarter," the company said on Thursday.

Valeant said its net loss widened to $27.5 million, or 9 cents per share, from $12.9 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier as expenses increased 4 percent, mainly due to the integration of Medicis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

Valeant has been on the acquisition trail since its 2010 takeover by Biovail Corp, which assumed the Valeant name.

It has favored segments where patients often pay out of pocket, such as opthalmology and dermatology -- a strategy that cuts its exposure to cost-sensitive insurers.

However, a proposed merger of Valeant and Actavis Inc , the third-largest global generic drugmaker, was put on hold recently after the companies failed to agree to the terms of a deal, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters last week.

Actavis, formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals, on Thursday reported an adjusted quarterly profit that beat market estimates, helped by several new products, and the company raised its earnings forecast for the full year.

Actavis said on Wednesday it bought the global rights to Valeant's antibiotic vaginal gel for about $55 million.

Valeant on Thursday reiterated its revenue forecast of $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion for the year.

Valeant shares closed at C$74.28 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/valeant-posts-bigger-loss-costs-rise-102326467.html

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Tablets with Windows RT see slow sales, IDC says

NEW YORK (AP) ? Microsoft is seeing slow sales of a version of Windows designed for thin and light tablets, even as the tablet market as a whole is growing, a research firm reported Wednesday.

Researchers at IDC said manufacturers shipped 200,000 tablets running Windows RT, the special version of Windows for iPad-style tablets, in the January to March period. That's down from about 900,000 shipped in the fourth quarter.

Microsoft Corp. launched Windows RT in October, along with the Surface tablet. The software runs on a few tablets from other manufacturers as well. Windows RT is designed to run on phone-style chips, of the kind used in the iPad, rather than PC-style chips, which tend to use more energy and require bigger batteries. Using Windows RT means the tablets can be thinner and lighter, but it also means regular Windows programs won't run on Windows RT. That's caused some confusion and limited the appeal of Windows RT, analysts say.

Microsoft's larger Surface Pro tablets, which run standard Windows 8, did better in the quarter. IDC didn't specify how many, but it's at least 700,000 based on the figures provided.

Microsoft has said it plans to release a series of smaller tablets in coming months, apparently to compete with Apple's iPad Mini and Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire. Windows RT is the likely software choice for the tablets.

Meanwhile, the global tablet market more than doubled to 49.2 million units, according to IDC's estimate. That means nearly two tablets were sold for every three PCs, a record level.

Apple Inc. remained the largest maker of tablets, but its market share shrank to 39 percent, the lowest yet. Samsung Electronics Co. is cementing its position as the second-largest maker of tablets, with 18 percent market share, according to IDC.

Microsoft's market share was 1.8 percent, with 900,000 Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets shipped. It's at No. 5, behind AsusTek Computer Inc. and Amazon.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-01-US-TEC-Tablet-Sales/id-937dd544eea143fe95590b3a96bb962c

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Jennifer Lopez to Perform on American Idol Season Finale

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/jennifer-lopez-to-perform-on-american-idol-season-finale/

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New Kenyan lawmakers vote themselves free luxury car perk, worth $60,000

Barely a fortnight into their jobs, Kenya?s new lawmakers have forced through a change to their salary that includes a perk of $60,000 for a luxury car.

Under a review of legislators? earnings agreed in Kenya before the March national elections, salaries were agreed to be cut from $120,000 a year to $75,000, and perks including interest-free loans for vehicles and houses were to be scrapped.

The measures were necessary because under a new constitution that made structural changes including a new senate, the older wages for public servants were predicted to be unsustainable.

But part of those cuts are already being reversed. Kenyan budgetary officials were this week forced to backtrack and agree that the 416 new legislators will each be handed $60,000 for a new car.

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Rates for mileage driven while on official business have also almost doubled, to between $2 and $3.70 a mile, depending on the vehicle's engine size.

The move has been met with weary resignation ? and some anger ? among Kenyans who elected new members of parliament, hoping they might achieve a break from the pork and excesses of the past.

?Sometimes I wonder if we Kenyans are stupid truly to believe any new parliament will be different from the last one,? says Beatrice Mathenge, an office cleaner in Nairobi, Kenya?s capital. ?Each time they reach office, the very first thing they do is award themselves more salary. Meanwhile we are all struggling even to make ends to meet.?

Originally the lawmakers were to be offered loans of up to $82,000 to fund vehicle purchases, and to be repaid over five years at 3 percent interest.

Even though this interest rate is a fraction of the average 19 percent that Kenya?s commercial banks offer to account holders, members of parliament said they would not be able to afford to pay the loans back.

This was despite their salaries ? even at reduced levels ? being 42 times higher than an average Kenyan would expect to earn in a year. In March when announcing the lower pay, Sarah Serem, head of the salaries commission, said, ?We are trying to instill a sense of fiscal prudence by letting the MPs own and maintain their own cars or homes."

This week, one parliamentarian complained that Ms. Serem ?wanted MPs to go and buy cheap cars like a [Toyota] Probox,? a small Japanese station wagon popular with ordinary Kenyans.

?What type of car does she think we can buy with $60,000,? Mithika Linturi asked in Kenya?s Standard newspaper.

Financial analysts calculate that Kenya?s $5.5 billion public sector wage bill has doubled in the last four years and now consumes half of domestic revenue.

Legislators have also warned that they plan to enact new laws that will overturn the pay cut instituted by the salaries commission, and return their earnings to $120,000 a year or more.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-lawmakers-vote-themselves-free-luxury-car-perk-172530746.html

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Fidelity Contrafund's Danoff frets over Apple rivals

By Tim McLaughlin

BOSTON (Reuters) - Fidelity Contrafund manager Will Danoff, the biggest active shareholder in Apple Inc, cut his stake in the iPhone maker 12 percent in the first quarter and cited "heightened concern" about increasing competition.

Danoff, whose $92 billion Contrafund has beaten 94 percent of peers over the past 15 years, is considered one of the most savvy stock pickers among mutual fund managers.

"Given our heightened concern surrounding the increased competition Apple was facing, we continued to trim our stake in the company during the period," Danoff said in a first-quarter overview.

Apple's shares have climbed nearly 10 percent in the last week since the company announced it would increase its dividend and share buybacks to $100 billion. On Tuesday, Apple issued $17 billion of bonds, the largest non-bank deal in history, to fund some of the increases.

But the stock remains off 37 percent since hitting an all-time high of $705.07 in late September. Apple's shares were down about $3.90, or nearly 1 percent, at $438.55 in late morning trading on Nasdaq.

Danoff said investors continue to express concern about the company's decreasing profit margins as well as increasing competition from device makers including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

He began trimming his Apple stake late last year, but had said he still found the stock to be relatively cheap and remained upbeat about the company's cash generation prowess. In January, for example, Danoff wrote that Apple was generating $1 billion of free cash flow per week, according to a Fidelity Viewpoints interview posted on January 16.

Contrafund owned 10.1 million Apple shares at the end of March, down from 11.56 million at the end of 2012, according to Boston-based Fidelity's latest disclosure.

Danoff was hardly alone in trimming his Apple position. Some 870 institutional investors pared their Apple holdings in the most recent reporting period, while 419 sold off their entire positions, according to Thomson Reuters data. That compared with 254 investors initiating Apple positions and 1,185 adding to existing holdings.

Contrafund held $4.5 billion in Apple stock at the end of March. Its largest holding was a $5.1 billion stake in Google Inc.

Contrafund returned 9.18 percent in the first quarter, underperforming the 10.61 percent advance of the S&P 500 Index. But over the past 15 years, Danoff has outperformed the S&P 500 by 3.3 percentage points per year.

Apple was the fund's largest detractor in the quarter, Danoff said in his overview. Still, he said he continued to believe that smartphones represent one of the most robust product cycles in the tech sector.

He also favors biotech companies, overweighting on Biogen Idec Inc, which is known for its multiple sclerosis drugs. That stock was the fund's single-largest contributor to relative performance during the quarter, rallying more than 30 percent on the approval of Tecfidera, an oral drug used for treating MS, Danoff said in his overview. Contrafund owned $1.7 billion worth of Biogen shares in the first quarter.

Overall, Danoff said he continued to find cheap stocks, particularly in relation to bonds, where blue-chip companies boast free cash flow yields of 5 percent to 7 percent. That is well in excess of the 1.65 percent yield on the 10-year Treasury bond.

Contrafund's largest weighting is in the tech sector, where Danoff is betting on companies that disrupt the software industry with cloud computing offerings. Danoff, for example, owned $610 million worth of Salesforce.com Inc at the end of the quarter.

(Additional reporting by Aaron Pressman in Boston.; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fidelity-contrafund-manager-worries-over-apples-competition-133752406.html

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Sen. Kelly Ayotte becomes focus of gun-control groups after voting against background checks (Washington Post)

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Rob Kardashian Sued for Assault, Robbery

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/rob-kardashian-sued-for-assault-robbert/

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US panel: Afghans need more religious freedom

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Despite significant improvements since the hard-line Taliban ruled Afghanistan, religious freedom remains poor, especially for minorities, and Afghans still can't debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday.

As the country braces for next year's presidential election and the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014, the panel urges the U.S. government and its allies to work harder to promote religious rights in the war-torn nation.

The environment for exercising religious freedom remains "exceedingly poor" for dissenting members of Afghanistan's Sunni Muslim majority and for minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its report.

"Individuals who dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy regarding Islamic beliefs and practices are subject to legal actions that violate international standards," according to the commission, which was created in 1998 to review violations of religious freedom internationally and make policy recommendations to the U.S. government.

"The Taliban and other non-state actors continue to target individuals for activity deemed 'un-Islamic,' and the Afghanistan constitution fails explicitly to protect the individual right to freedom of religion or belief."

An Afghan government official disputed the findings.

"The Afghan government is fully committed to ensuring religious freedom for followers of all religions in Afghanistan, something our constitution is very clear about," Janan Mosazai, spokesman for the Afghan foreign ministry, said in an email to The Associated Press. Mosazai said that even though Islam is Afghanistan's official religion, the constitution clearly states that "followers of other faiths shall be free within the bounds of law in the exercise and performance of their religious rituals."

In its 2013 annual report, USCIRF praises that clause of Afghanistan's 2004 constitution, but notes that another part of the charter says these fundamental rights can be superseded by ordinary legislation. This shortcoming is compounded by "a vague, repugnancy clause" that says no law can be contrary to Islam and allows courts to enforce it, the commission says.

In addition, the penal code discriminates against minorities by allowing courts to defer to Shariah, or Islamic law, in cases involving matters such as apostasy and conversion that are not explicitly addressed by the penal code or the constitution, resulting in those charges being punishable by death, the report says.

Because of legal restrictions, "Afghans cannot debate the role and content of religion in law and society, advocate for the rights of women and religious minorities, or question interpretations of Islamic precepts without fear of retribution or being charged with religious "crimes' such as apostasy, blasphemy or insulting Islam," USCIRF says.

Religious freedom is especially repressed in areas heavily controlled by the Taliban, which governs by their own interpretation of Islamic law, the report said.

It cited two cases in 2010-2011 during which Afghans accused of converting to Christianity were prosecuted in the courts for apostasy, but later released. USCIRF also noted that marriage is formally restricted to Muslims and that non-Muslims are allowed to marry as long as they do not publicly express their faith.

"The few Afghan Christians, converts from Islam or their children, long have been forced to conceal their faith and cannot worship openly," the report said. "The situation for Christians worsened in 2010, when authorities arrested 26 Christians. After their release, many fled to India, where they have applied for refugee status due to a fear of religious persecution."

Despite restrictions on religious freedom, Afghanistan has been largely spared the sectarian violence that has roiled Iraq and neighboring Pakistan.

Afghanistan recorded its first major sectarian assault since the fall of the Taliban regime in December 2011 when a suicide bomber slaughtered 56 Shiite worshippers and wounded more than 160 outside a Shiite shrine in the capital. The Taliban condemned the attack, and suspicion about who was to blame centered on militant groups based in Pakistan, where Sunni attacks on minority Shiites are common.

Some violence in Afghanistan, however, does have religious overtones.

In November 2012, Sunni and Shiite students clashed at Kabul University on a Shiite holy day, and at least one person was killed. That same month, Afghan security personnel and local residents reportedly prevented Sikhs from performing cremation ceremonies for their deceased relatives, the report said.

In an earlier court case not cited by USCIRF, Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, a journalism student, was condemned for blasphemy in 2008, for distributing material found on the Internet questioning women's rights under Islam, and sentenced to death. However, a court later commuted the sentence to 20 years and President Hamid Karzai then pardoned the student.

Mosazai said the state of religious freedom in Afghanistan today must be compared with the suffering and brutality that people of all faiths suffering during the 1990s, first during the civil war, then under the Taliban regime.

He praised USCIRF for a passage in the report saying that since then, "conditions for religious freedom have markedly improved, especially for religious minorities."

USCIRF concludes its report by recommending that the U.S. and its allies "increase and strengthen diplomatic, development and military engagement to promote human rights, especially religious freedom." It also urges the U.S. to raise directly with Karzai "the importance of religious freedom, especially for dissenting Muslims, Muslim minorities and non-Muslim minorities."

___

Follow Thomas Wagner on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/tjpwagner

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-panel-afghans-more-religious-freedom-051508576.html

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Proper cleat choice gives turf injuries the boot

Public release date: 1-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kayee Ip
ip@aaos.org
847-384-4035
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

Report looks at the history and impact of synthetic playing surfaces and shoe design on athlete health

ROSEMONT, Ill.Injury on the playing field often is caused by the interaction between the athlete's shoe and the field surface. In a literature review appearing in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), researchers shed light on the evolution of synthetic playing surfaces. The study summarizes the existing research on artificial turf and the role of shoe-surface interface in injury.

Synthetic surfaces were introduced in the 1960s to improve play surface durability and accessibility, and to minimize field maintenance. Newer, "third generation" artificial surfaces behave more like grass and soil, but continue to be associated with injuries to the foot, ankle, toe and knee, in addition to concussions. Characteristics of the play surface directly affect how much energy is absorbed by the athlete upon impact.

The key to minimizing injuries on natural and artificial playing fields may be to understand the interplay between different types of athletic shoes, specific sports and field surfaces.

"Optimal shoe-playing surface conditions may be level and sport-specific," said orthopaedic surgeon and lead study author Mark C. Drakos, MD. "The shoe-playing surface interface is a modifiable risk factor for injury, and further research is needed to improve playing conditions for athletes of all levels."

Determining the shoe-playing surface interface is complex and challenging as it is influenced by human factors (i.e., the athlete's body weight, velocity and acceleration, deceleration, loading rate, and angle of the foot and height before contact), shoe factors (i.e., sole type and cleat/stud material of footwear, and number and size of cleats and cleat configuration), type of playing surface, and related environmental factors.

Other article highlights:

• Most types of shoes have higher peak torque (foot movement and movement force) on artificial turf than on natural turf.
• Sole material and cleat pattern and shape may affect torque. For example, shoes with small cleats place the lowest amount of pressure on the foot, and may potentially minimize the incidence of foot stress fractures on artificial surfaces.
• Because of constant changes in both the athletic shoe market and artificial surfaces, much of the existing research on the shoe-playing surface is outdated.

"The role of the shoe surface interface in the development of lower extremity injuries continues to be clarified," said Dr. Drakos. Optimal shoe-playing surfaces are most likely level- and sport-specific. The shoe-playing surface interface is a modifiable risk factor for injury and further research is needed to improve playing conditions for all athletes.

###

May 1, 2013 Full JAAOS Table of Contents

• AAOS Presidential Address
  
• Guest Editorial: Foot and Ankle
  
• Pronator Syndrome and Anterior Interosseous Nerve Syndrome
  
• The Adult Paralytic Foot
  
• Transabdominal Gunshot Wounds of the Hip and Pelvis
  
• The Implications of Synthetic Playing Surfaces on Athlete Health
  
• Cartilage Regeneration
  
• Wrong Site Spine Surgery

For more AAOS news, visit the News Bureau
Follow AAOS on Twitter
Follow AAOS on Facebook

A Nation in Motion

More than one in four Americans have bone or joint health problems, making them the greatest cause of lost work days in the U.S. When orthopaedic surgeons restore mobility and reduce pain, they help people get back to work and to independent, productive lives. Orthopaedic surgeons provide the best value in American medicine in both human and economic terms and access to high-quality orthopaedic care keeps this "Nation in Motion." To learn more, to read hundreds of patient stories or to submit your own story, visit ANationInMotion.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.

Public release date: 1-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kayee Ip
ip@aaos.org
847-384-4035
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

Report looks at the history and impact of synthetic playing surfaces and shoe design on athlete health

ROSEMONT, Ill.Injury on the playing field often is caused by the interaction between the athlete's shoe and the field surface. In a literature review appearing in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), researchers shed light on the evolution of synthetic playing surfaces. The study summarizes the existing research on artificial turf and the role of shoe-surface interface in injury.

Synthetic surfaces were introduced in the 1960s to improve play surface durability and accessibility, and to minimize field maintenance. Newer, "third generation" artificial surfaces behave more like grass and soil, but continue to be associated with injuries to the foot, ankle, toe and knee, in addition to concussions. Characteristics of the play surface directly affect how much energy is absorbed by the athlete upon impact.

The key to minimizing injuries on natural and artificial playing fields may be to understand the interplay between different types of athletic shoes, specific sports and field surfaces.

"Optimal shoe-playing surface conditions may be level and sport-specific," said orthopaedic surgeon and lead study author Mark C. Drakos, MD. "The shoe-playing surface interface is a modifiable risk factor for injury, and further research is needed to improve playing conditions for athletes of all levels."

Determining the shoe-playing surface interface is complex and challenging as it is influenced by human factors (i.e., the athlete's body weight, velocity and acceleration, deceleration, loading rate, and angle of the foot and height before contact), shoe factors (i.e., sole type and cleat/stud material of footwear, and number and size of cleats and cleat configuration), type of playing surface, and related environmental factors.

Other article highlights:

• Most types of shoes have higher peak torque (foot movement and movement force) on artificial turf than on natural turf.
• Sole material and cleat pattern and shape may affect torque. For example, shoes with small cleats place the lowest amount of pressure on the foot, and may potentially minimize the incidence of foot stress fractures on artificial surfaces.
• Because of constant changes in both the athletic shoe market and artificial surfaces, much of the existing research on the shoe-playing surface is outdated.

"The role of the shoe surface interface in the development of lower extremity injuries continues to be clarified," said Dr. Drakos. Optimal shoe-playing surfaces are most likely level- and sport-specific. The shoe-playing surface interface is a modifiable risk factor for injury and further research is needed to improve playing conditions for all athletes.

###

May 1, 2013 Full JAAOS Table of Contents

• AAOS Presidential Address
  
• Guest Editorial: Foot and Ankle
  
• Pronator Syndrome and Anterior Interosseous Nerve Syndrome
  
• The Adult Paralytic Foot
  
• Transabdominal Gunshot Wounds of the Hip and Pelvis
  
• The Implications of Synthetic Playing Surfaces on Athlete Health
  
• Cartilage Regeneration
  
• Wrong Site Spine Surgery

For more AAOS news, visit the News Bureau
Follow AAOS on Twitter
Follow AAOS on Facebook

A Nation in Motion

More than one in four Americans have bone or joint health problems, making them the greatest cause of lost work days in the U.S. When orthopaedic surgeons restore mobility and reduce pain, they help people get back to work and to independent, productive lives. Orthopaedic surgeons provide the best value in American medicine in both human and economic terms and access to high-quality orthopaedic care keeps this "Nation in Motion." To learn more, to read hundreds of patient stories or to submit your own story, visit ANationInMotion.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/2013-05/aaoo-pcc043013.php

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2013 'Doodle 4 Google' top 50 winners selected, require your judgment

There's little in life finer than pitting youths against each other in battle, which Google's annual "Doodle 4 Google" contest clearly appreciates. The competition takes thousands of Google logo doodle entries and pits them down from thousands to 50, one per US State, and organizes those entries by grade level. The images are then put online for the world to enjoy, as well as to vote on -- out of the five doodles with the highest votes, one national winner is selected, which Google plans on revealing on May 22nd in New York City. This year's theme is "Best Day Ever," which means outdoor activities to one Maine-based middle schooler (seen above), and hanging out with bees to a Michigan-based high school student. Of course, there are 48 other excellent pieces to peek at before casting your vote, though you've gotta get in there before May 10th at 11:59ET.

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Google

Comments

Source: Google, 2013 Doodle 4 Google Voting Page

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/hGn0cZOkZn4/

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Google invades Siri's turf with iPhone, iPad app

This undated image made available by Google shows "Google Now." Google is trying to upstage Siri, the sometimes droll assistant that answers questions and helps people manage their lives on Apple's iPhone and iPad. The duel begins Monday, April 29, 2013, with the release of a free iPhone and iPad app that features Google Now, a technology that performs many of the same functions as Siri. (AP Photo/Google)

This undated image made available by Google shows "Google Now." Google is trying to upstage Siri, the sometimes droll assistant that answers questions and helps people manage their lives on Apple's iPhone and iPad. The duel begins Monday, April 29, 2013, with the release of a free iPhone and iPad app that features Google Now, a technology that performs many of the same functions as Siri. (AP Photo/Google)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Siri may be feeling a little job insecurity. The sometimes droll assistant that answers questions and helps people manage their lives on Apple's iPhone and iPad is facing competition from an up-and-coming rival made by Google.

The duel began Monday with the release of a free iPhone and iPad app that features Google Now, a technology that performs many of the same functions as Siri.

It's the first time that Google Now has been available on smartphones and tablet computers that aren't running on the latest version of Google's Android software. The technology, which debuted nine months ago, is being included in an upgrade to Google's search application for iOS, the Apple Inc. software that powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It's up to each user to decide whether to activate Google Now within the redesigned Google Search app, which is available through Apple's app store.

Siri tried to dismiss the competitive threat. When asked for an opinion about Google Now, Siri responded: "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather Google later."

Mike Allton, a St. Charles, Mo., resident who has owned an iPhone for four years, could hardly wait to check out Google Now, even if Siri might interpret it as a betrayal.

Siri "is looking a little green with envy," Allton, 36, said with a laugh after he installed Google's new app. "I love Apple products, but I like to see the competition because it probably will lead to even more improvements. I believe this technology is going to be even more deeply ingrained in our lives a few years from now."

Other iPhone users ? even those who have grown fond of Siri ? welcomed Google Now's arrival to iOS in mostly enthusiastic and sometimes amusing remarks posted on Twitter and Google Plus. One person joked that Google Now is so helpful that the technology prompted him to wash his hands after using the bathroom. The biggest gripe was about the possibility of Google Now's location-tracking features draining a device's battery more quickly.

Google Now's invasion of Siri's turf marks Google Inc.'s latest attempt to lure iPhone and iPad users away from a service that Apple built into its own devices.

Google quickly won over millions of iPhone users in December when it released a mapping application to replace the navigation system that Apple dumped when it redesigned iOS last fall. Apple's maps application proved to be inferior to Google's ousted service. The app's bugs and glitches made Apple the butt of jokes and fueled demand for Google to develop a new option.

Apple has been losing to Google on other fronts in a rapidly growing mobile computing market, an arena that was revolutionized with the iPhone's release in 2007. Smartphones and tablet computers running Google's free Android software have been steadily expanding their market share in recent years, partly because they tend to be less expensive than the iPhone and iPad. In 2012, Android devices held about 69 percent of the smartphone market while iOS had about 19 percent, according to the research firm IDC.

Android's success has been particularly galling for Apple because its late CEO, Steve Jobs, believed Google stole many of its ideas for the software from the iPhone. That led to a series of court battles over allegations of patent infringement, including a high-profile trial last year that culminated in Apple winning hundreds of millions in damages from Samsung Electronics, the top seller of Android phones. That dispute is still embroiled in appeals.

The rise of Android also is squeezing Apple's profit margins and has contributed to a nearly 40 percent drop in the company's stock price since it peaked at $705.07 last September around the time that the iPhone 5 came out.

Android's popularity is good news for Google because the company's services are built into most versions of the operating system. That brings more traffic to Google services, creating more opportunities for the company to sell ads ? the main source of Google's revenue.

Siri is billed by Apple as an "intelligent feature." Since the technology's release in October 2011, Apple has made it a centerpiece of some marketing campaigns that depict Siri and its automated female voice as an endearing and occasionally even pithy companion.

Google believes its Siri counterpart is smarter because Google Now is designed to learn about a user's preferences and then provide helpful information before it's even asked to do so. The technology draws upon information that Google gleans from search requests other interactions with the company's other services. Knowing a person's location also helps Google Now serve up helpful information without being asked.

"This concept of predicting your needs and showing you them at the right time is unique to Google Now," said Baris Gultekin, Google Now's director of product management. "We want computers to do the hard work so our users can focus on what matters to them so they can get on with their lives."

If the technology is working right, Google Now is supposed to do things like automatically tell people what the local weather is like when they wake up to help decide what to wear and provide a report on traffic conditions for the commute to work. During the day, Google Now might provide an update on the score of a user's favorite sports team or a stock quote of a company in a user's investment portfolio. On a Friday evening, Google Now might offer suggestions for movies to see or other weekend events tailored to a user's interests. For international travelers, Google Now might provide currency conversion rates, language translations of common phrases and the time back home.

Most of this automatic information is provided in summaries that Google calls "cards." Like Siri, Google Now also is equipped with voice technology that allows it to respond to questions and interact with users, though it hasn't shown the wit that delights some of Siri's users.

The Google Now app for iOS isn't as comprehensive as the Android app, which only works on devices running on the latest version of Android ? known as "Jelly Bean." Some of the Android features missing from Google Now's iOS app include cards for showing airline boarding passes and movie tickets bought though online vendor Fandango. Both of those options are available on the iOS through Apple's built-in Passbook feature that's designed to be a digital wallet.

Google Now's expansion on to the iOS underscores Google's ambitions for the service. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., views it as a pivotal tool in its effort to peer deeper into its users' brains. In doing so, Google believes it will be able to provide more useful services and also show more relevant ads. For Google Now to become more intuitive, it needs to widen its availability.

"The more you use Google Now, we will have a better chance of understanding what your needs are and providing you with the right information," Gultekin said. "It's a virtuous cycle."

Shawn Jacob, a student at the University of North Texas, activated Google Now on his iPhone Monday and was startled by how much the service already knew about him when he logged in for the first time. "I was blown away," Jacob, 21, said. "It made me wonder if I really want Google to know this much about me. It's like Google wants to take over the world."

Gultekin declined to discuss whether there are plans to make Google Now apps for mobile devices running on Microsoft's Windows system. He also refused to comment on speculation circulating in technology blogs that a Web version of Google Now will be offered as a replacement for iGoogle, a tool that allows people to encircle the Google search engine with a variety of services suited to their tastes. IGoogle is scheduled to close in November.

___

Online:

http://www.google.com/landing/now/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-04-29-Google-Apple-Dueling%20Assistants/id-922de12ef38041d59010ae22b654a7d3

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The Military's New Flying Gas Station Will Be Open 24/7 Anywhere in the World

KC-135 Stratotanker planes have been refueling fighter craft in-flight for more than 60 years. While such longevity is commendable, the US military?s fleet of mid-air refuellers is in desperate need of an update. And that?s where this new flying gas station comes in.

The Boeing KC-46A is a derivative of the Boeing 767-200 built at Boeing?s Everett, WA facility and converted to military use at another Boeing facility in Puget Sound. The KC-46 program has been a long time coming. Congress and the military have wrangled over funding for the project for more than a decade, finally agreeing to an initial investment of $3.5 billion in 2011 for Boeing?s design. The aerospace company has until 2017 to deliver the first 18 tankers with the remaining 161 due in 2028. In all, explains Maj. Gen. John Thompson, program executive officer and program director for the KC-46, the deal is "worth about $32 billion in then-year dollars, goes from about two years ago out into the 2020s and is something that they will be able to leverage into a very important weapon system for the United States Air Force for decades to come. Absolutely, it is a win-win."

The KC-46A will offer greatly-improved performance and capabilities than its sexagenarian predecessor. The new plane measures 165 feet in length with a 157 foot wingspan. It?s powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW4062 turbofan engines, each providing 63,300 lbf of thrust to get the plane?and the 212,299 pounds of fuel it carries?off the ground and keep it aloft for a range of more than 6,000 nautical miles.

The plane?s crew of three (two pilots and a boom operator) operate within a large glass cockpit augmented with banks of monitors providing critical mission information. The pilots use a bank of 15-inch displays to check flight and weather data while the refueling operator will be afforded a set of 24-inch 3D displays giving him a panoramic 185 degree field of view.

Designed to support and refuel any fixed-wing receiver capable aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines, the plane is typically equipped with either a 1,200 gallon-per-minute center-line boom or 400 gallon-per-minute Centerline Drogue System. It can also carry a pair of 400 gallon-per-minute Wing Air Refueling Pods to pull crazy stunts like this. What?s more, the KC-46A can itself receive in-flight refueling, allowing it to remain aloft practically indefinitely.

In addition to fuel, the KC-46A can carry up to 114 people, 18 standard military cargo pallets, or 58 patients (24 litters, 34 ambulatory). Across the board?fuel, passengers, and cargo? the KC-46A carries more than the plane it will eventually recapitalize.

[Air Force News 1, 2, 3 - Defence News - Wikipedia - GAO - Images: USAF]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-militarys-new-flying-gas-station-will-be-open-24-7-484398864

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