Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315324149?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, June 27, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Globally, people resigned to little privacy online
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? U.S. government snooping does not surprise global Internet users, who say they already have few expectations of online privacy as governments increasingly monitor people's digital lives and Internet companies often acquiesce.
Privacy activists concerned over the U.S. National Security Agency's selective monitoring of Internet traffic called on people to better protect their digital data. But most people eschew encryption and other privacy tools and seemed resigned to the open book their online lives have become.
"It doesn't surprise me one bit. They've been doing it for years," said Jamie Griffiths, a 26-year-old architect working on his laptop in a London cafe. "I wouldn't send anything via email that I wouldn't want a third party to read."
From Baghdad, to Bogota, Colombia, many said they already censor what they write online and assume governments are regularly spying, be it as part of global counter-terrorism or domestic surveillance efforts.
"The social networks and email have always been vulnerable because tech-savvy people know how to penetrate them," said Teolindo Acosa, a 34-year-old education student at Venezuela's Universidad Central who was leaving a cybercafe in Caracas.
Leaked confidential documents show the NSA and FBI have been sifting through personal data by directly accessing the U.S-based servers of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL, Skype, PalTalk, Apple and YouTube.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that the surveillance did not "target" U.S. citizens or others living in the U.S. ? which does not mean their communications were not caught up in the dragnet.
But that didn't dampen the outrage of people who resent what they consider Washington's self-anointed role as the world's policeman.
"To the United States, everyone is suspicious, even the pope!" said leftist Colombian Sen. Alexander Lopez. "Everyone is under observation these days and this should be taken up by the United Nations."
Lopez said he has no plans to close his Google and Microsoft email accounts. He figures he'll be spied on no matter what he does.
The revelation of global data vacuuming could hurt U.S. technology companies if Internet users become disillusioned and abandon them in favor of homegrown alternatives that offer greater security.
U.S. privacy activist Christopher Soghoian said he finds it "insane" that so many politicians outside the United States use Gmail accounts.
"This has given the NSA an advantage over every other intelligence system in the world. The Americans don't have to hack as much, because everyone in the world sends their data to American companies," he said.
Hossam el-Hamalawy, a blogger with Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists, one of the Egyptian groups that helped spearhead the 2011 uprising, said the dearth of locally developed Web tools means many are simply stuck with U.S. sites, even if they know the government is monitoring them.
"The problem is that there is no alternative," he said. "If you don't use Facebook, what is the alternative social network available for the Internet user who is not an IT geek?"
Soghoian predicted an increasing push by governments and companies in Europe in particular, where privacy has been a much bigger issue for voters than in the United States, away from storing data in U.S.-based server farms.
Indeed, under U.S. law it is not illegal for the NSA to collect information on foreigners.
The disclosure of the NSA data-vacuuming program known as PRISM is only the latest "of many U.S. government programs created to infringe on personal freedoms," said Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza, a technology policy professor at FGV think tank in Rio de Janeiro.
Going back well into the 20th century, the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand ran a secret satellite communications interception network that became known as Echelon and searched information including telexes, faxes and emails, according to experts including U.S. journalist James Bamford. The system was the subject of a 2001 European Parliament inquiry.
According to a U.N. report released this week, such surveillance has been on a global upsurge with governments increasingly tapping into online personal data and even discouraging online anonymity by passing laws prohibiting it.
The governments of China, Iran, Bahrain are among other nations that already aggressively oversee online activity, in many cases putting people in prison for political blog posts and other messages.
Israel's attorney general in April upheld a practice allowing security personnel to read email accounts of suspicious individuals when they arrive at the airport, arguing it prevents militants from entering the country.
China has long imposed tight control over media and spied on private communications among its citizens, especially government critics and activists, sifting through their email, listening in on their phone conversations and snooping on their cyber activities.
Major Internet companies employ internal reviewers who regularly censor content posted by users and scrub off offensive language, including political topics the authorities do not wish to be publicly discussed.
South Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world, has a law that allows authorities to ask telecommunications companies without a court order to provide information such as names, resident registration numbers, addresses and phone numbers of their subscribers. But this doesn't involve the substance of conversations users had using communications software provided by the companies.
Ko Young-churl, a journalism professor and communications expert at Jeju National University in South Korea, said most South Koreans are complacent about security for their personal data online ... "and most South Koreans don't realize authorities could use such tools against them."
The U.N. report said such activity has been expanding as technology advances, and that countries should prioritize protecting people's online rights.
"In order to meet their human rights obligations, States must ensure that the rights to freedom of expression and privacy are at the heart of their communications surveillance frameworks," the report reads.
Its author, Guatemalan Frank La Rue, calls for legal standards to ensure "privacy, security and anonymity of communications" to protect people including journalists, human rights defenders and whistleblowers.
___
Associated Press writers Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, Jill Lawless in London, Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo, Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas, Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Tony G. Gabriel in Cairo contributed to this report. Jack Chang contributed from Mexico City.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/globally-people-resigned-little-privacy-online-103112367.html
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Sunday, June 9, 2013
Turkish prime minister convenes party leadership
ISTANBUL (AP) ? Turkey's prime minister convened his party leadership Saturday as anti-government protests entered their ninth day, with thousands of people still occupying Istanbul's central Taksim Square.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has said the protests must end immediately, will meet with top officials from his Justice and Development Party in Istanbul.
The protests began as a sit-in at a park in Taksim Square to prevent a redevelopment project that would replace the park with replica Ottoman barracks and a shopping mall. The mall idea seems to have fallen by the wayside, with Erdogan recently saying an opera house, theater and possibly a museum would be built instead.
But violent intervention by police to eject the protesters on May 31 outraged many, and the protests spread to dozens of cities across Turkey.
Over the past nine days of demonstrations and frequent violent confrontations with police, three people have been killed ? two protesters and a policeman ? and thousands have been injured.
The protests have attracted a broad array of people angered by what they say are Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian ways and his intervention in private lives. They point to attempts to curtail the selling and promotion of alcohol, his comments on how women should dress and statements that each woman should have at least three children.
A devout Muslim who says he is committed to upholding Turkey's secular tradition, Erdogan vehemently rejects charges of autocracy and points out that he enjoyed 50 percent support in the last elections in 2011.
Over the past week, protesters ? mainly young, secular and middle-class, but also including some religious Muslims who were formerly Erdogan supporters ? have set up camp in Taksim Square and its Gezi Park. They have vowed to remain there until the development project for the area is canceled ? something Erdogan has shown no signs of being willing to do.
On Saturday, police removed about a dozen tents erected by protesters at a park in the capital, Ankara. No trouble was reported. Police in the city set up barricades as thousands of people began a march toward a central square.
While Taksim Square has been generally quiet for the past few days, clashes have broken out in other parts of the city. Riot police used water cannon and tear gas against protesters who set up street barricades in the Sultangazi neighborhood on the outskirts of Istanbul overnight.
Witnesses said at least one person was injured, hit in the face by a tear gas canister. Early Saturday, bloodstains could be seen on the ground amid debris from burned garbage bins and damaged shops.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-prime-minister-convenes-party-leadership-112716994.html
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Did Comet Impacts Spur Life on Earth?
The impact of comets crashing into Earth's surface may have provided the energy to create simple molecules that formed the precursors to life, a new study suggests.
That conclusion, published in the June 20 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, was based on a computer model of such an impact's effect on a comet crystal initially made up of water, carbon dioxide and other simple molecules.
"Comets carry very simple molecules in them," said study co-author Nir Goldman, a physical chemist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California. "When a comet hits a planetary surface, for example, that impact can drive the synthesis of more complicated things that are prebiotic ? they're life-building."
Comet collision
The notion that life-building molecules were carried to Earth via comets or asteroids, a hypothesis known as panspermia, has been around for decades. But the idea that the comet impact itself could have created the molecules is newer.
When the Earth was young, comet bombardments may have brought 22 trillion pounds (10 trillion kilograms) of carbon-based material to the planet every year, Goldman said. That would have provided a rich source for the building blocks of life to form. In a separate recent study, scientists zapped a mini-comet in the lab to prove that precursor molecules could form far from Earth. [7 Theories on the Origin of Life]
To test their hypothesis, Goldman and his colleagues used a computer model to simulate a single comet crystal of hundreds of molecules. Comets are mostly "dirty snowballs," Goldman said, so the simulated crystal started with mostly water molecules, but also included methanol, ammonia, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
The researchers then simulated the effects of the crystal hitting the Earth's surface at various angles, from crashing into it directly to making a glancing blow. They followed the chemical changes in the crystal for about 250 picoseconds, about the amount of time the system needed to reach a steady state, where the proportion and type of chemicals in the system is stable. The huge jolt from the impact provided the energy needed to make complicated chemicals.
"Certain conditions were a sweet spot for complexity," Goldman told LiveScience.
For instance, at pressures of about 360,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and temperatures of 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,538 degrees Celsius), the molecules in the crystals formed complex species called aromatic rings. These types of circular, carbon-based molecules could have been precursors to the letters in DNA.
At higher pressures, the molecules produced methane, formaldehyde and some long-chain carbon molecules.
"Every time there was an impact hard enough to get chemical reactivity, it produced interesting stuff," Goldman said.
As a follow-up, Goldman and his colleagues want to test different initial chemical concentrations in the comet to see how that affects the formation process.
No way to prove
The findings are fascinating, said Ralf Kaiser, a physical chemist who studies astrochemistry at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"It opens another pathway to explain how these biological, or precursor molecules can be formed," Kaiser, who was not involved in the study, told LiveScience.
The team has shown that such precursor molecules "absolutely could be formed this way, no question," Kaiser said.
But it's not all or nothing: Some molecules could have been carried here by comets from outer space, while some formed on impact, and still others formed completely from home-grown materials. The tricky question is to determine what percentage of life's building blocks arose during each process, Kaiser said.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+.?Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/did-comet-impacts-spur-life-earth-124329616.html
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Insider attack kills 3 US troops in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? A man in an Afghan army uniform turned his weapon on the American troops working with him in the country's east on Saturday, killing three of them, while an attacker with a grenade killed an Italian soldier in the west, officials said.
The shooting in Paktika province was the latest in a string of so-called "insider attacks" in which Afghan forces open fire on their own comrades or international troops. The incidents threaten to shake the confidence and trust of the two sides as the 2014 withdrawal of most of the international forces approaches.
An argument between the Afghan soldier and his trainers appeared to have led to Saturday's shooting on an Afghan National Army base in Paktika's Kher Qot district, according to a statement from the provincial governor's office. The international military coalition in Afghanistan confirmed that three U.S. service members died in an insider attack but gave few other details.
The angry Afghan soldier opened fire during the argument, killing the three foreign trainers and wounding three others, according to the governor's statement. The foreigners returned fire and killed the Afghan soldier, who had no known connection to the insurgency.
So far this year, there have been five insider attacks on foreign forces, with a total of eight troops and one U.S. contractor killed. Afghan security forces also are targets of such attacks. Last month, two recently rehired Afghan police opened fire on their commander at a checkpoint in a remote district in the country's south, killing him and six of his men.
The Taliban insurgents claim most of the insider attacks, saying they have infiltrated Afghan security forces or persuaded soldiers and police to join their side. However, the international coalition has said many of them are sparked by personal disputes.
In the western province of Farah, meanwhile, an Italian soldier was killed and three others wounded when an attacker lobbed explosives into their armored vehicle in western Afghanistan, Italy's government said.
The Defense Ministry said the attack in Farah province came as the Italian soldiers were returning to their base from training Afghan security forces.
The Italian convoy of three armored vehicle apparently had been slowed by traffic near an intersection when an attacker ran up and threw an explosive device into the lead vehicle, the ministry said. It added that the three wounded soldiers' injuries were not life-threatening.
The Taliban quickly took responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claiming that the attacker was an 11-year-old boy.
But Farah province provincial government spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhawandai says an adult man was seen throwing a grenade, then escaping by blending into the crowd at a nearby vegetable market.
Taliban insurgents have launched intense attacks across the country as Afghan forces take over most security responsibility ahead of most foreign troops' withdrawal next year.
Saturday's deaths brought to 16 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this month. On Thursday, seven Georgian soldiers died in a truck bombing at their base in the south.
___
Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report
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Apple reportedly lands radio service deal with Sony ahead of WWDC
Apple was supposedly waiting for a deal with Sony before it could launch its rumored internet radio service. That roadblock may have just been cleared: AllThingsD claims that Apple has reached an agreement at the last minute, which gives it the all clear to announce the streaming feature at WWDC. Other details aren't immediately available, but previous rumors have suggested that Apple won't deploy the ad-backed service right away; we may end up waiting a few months before we can tune in. If the rumors are true, though, Monday's keynote will be more interesting than we first thought.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Apple, Sony
Source: AllThingsD
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/r-ujztcMrio/
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Relay for Life raises $45,000 for cancer research - WANE.com
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Relay for Life event in west Allen County raised more than $45,000 for the American Cancer Society Saturday.
Chrissy Buchanan, a colon cancer survivor, said it was a big day for all cancer survivors.
The event involves teams of people taking turns walking or running around a track or path for up to a 24-hour time period. The event also features a dunk tank, kids games, and food. Cancer survivors are honored in a ceremony at 5 p.m.
Melissa Stephens, a community representative for the American Cancer Society, said they reached their $45,000 goal before the event even started Saturday. She is hoping to raise $50,000 by the end of the Relay on Sunday morning.
"The relay itself is just a great way to empower people to fight back against cancer and get involved in the community," Stephens said.
In northeast Indiana, the American Cancer Society scheduled Relay for Life events in Adams, Allen, Blackford, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Miami, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells, and Whitley counties.
Buchanan said she hopes all of those events will merge into one big event in the future.
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives and diminishing suffering from cancer through research, education, advocacy and service. ACS celebrated its 100th anniversary this year.
For more information on the west Allen County Relay for Life event, click here .
Source: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/relay-for-life-raises-45000-for-cancer-research
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Saturday, June 8, 2013
Triple or not, 5 things to watch for in Belmont
Exercise rider Jennifer Patterson takes Orb for a gallop on the track at Belmont Park, Friday, June 7, 2013 in Elmont, N.Y. Orb is entered in Saturday's Belmont Stakes horse race. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Exercise rider Jennifer Patterson takes Orb for a gallop on the track at Belmont Park, Friday, June 7, 2013 in Elmont, N.Y. Orb is entered in Saturday's Belmont Stakes horse race. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
A horse gallops on the rain-soaked track at Belmont Park during a morning workout Friday, June 7, 2013 in Elmont, N.Y. Saturday is the Belmont Stakes horse race. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Giant Finish walks on the track at Belmont Park, Friday, June 7, 2013 in Elmont, N.Y. Giant Finish is entered in Saturday's Belmont Stakes horse race. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Orb, left, is walked through the paddock runway at Belmont Park for a morning workout, Friday, June 7, 2013 in Elmont, N.Y. Orb is entered in Saturday's Belmont Stakes horse race. Jennifer Patterson is the exercise rider. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Preakness winner Oxbow, left, is guided by trainer D. Wayne Lukas, right, to his barn at Belmont Park following a morning workout Friday, June 7, 2013 in Elmont, N.Y. Oxbow is entered in Saturday's Belmont Stakes horse race. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A large field of 3-year-olds is set to run in the $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Among the competitors are Kentucky Derby winner Orb, Preakness winner Oxbow and a record five horses trained by Todd Pletcher, including Unlimited Budget with Rosie Napravnik attempting to become the second female jockey to win a Triple Crown race.
A rematch between the Derby and Preakness winners sure didn't scare off the competition. The field of 14 matches the largest since 1996, one shy of the record set in 1983.
There may not be a Triple Crown on the line, but here are five things to watch for while the field is negotiating one long, mile-and-a-half race known as the "Test of the Champion."
? HELLO, MUDDER: The New York area got a soaking on Friday. There's also a chance of afternoon showers on Saturday, leaving the possibility of a wet track by post time at 6:36 p.m. So who likes the mud? A bunch of 'em, starting with the top three finishers in the Derby. Orb romped past 16 horses in the final half mile and won over slop at Churchill Downs. Golden Soul, who was 2 1/2 lengths back in second, obviously had no issues with the track, and Revolutionary finished strong after a bumpy start to get third. The most intriguing mudder could be Freedom Child, who flourished in the slop at Belmont and led wire-to-wire in a stunning 13 1/4-length romp in the Peter Pan four weeks ago. Vyjack won on the slop at Aqueduct, but did not handle it well in the Derby, finishing 18th. The filly Unlimited Budget opened her career with a win over a good track at Aqueduct back in November.
? HELLO, FATHER: If you're looking for champion bloodlines, here's a bunch: Incognito is a son of 1992 Belmont winner and Horse of the Year A.P. Indy; Preakness winner Oxbow is a son of 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Awesome Again; Palace Malice is a son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin; and Unlimited Budget is a daughter of 2007 Derby winner Street Sense. Also, Derby winner Orb and Peter Pan winner Freedom Child were both sired by Malibu Moon.
? FILLY, FEMALE: Unlimited Budget will attempt to become the fourth filly to win the Belmont, and the first to win a Triple Crown race with a female jockey in Rosie Napravnik. The two got together at the Fair Grounds in February and won the Rachel Alexandra, and the filly is the co-fourth choice at 8-1. Napravnik finished third in the Derby and fifth in the Preakness aboard Mylute, and will attempt to join Julie Krone (winner of the 1993 Belmont aboard Colonial Affair) as the only women to win a Triple Crown race.
? THE O FACTOR: Don't tell us you should have bet the imaginary O-trifecta when one of the three horses in the field whose name begins with the letter O wins. Orb won the Derby, Oxbow won the Preakness, and Overanalyze is back for the Belmont after an 11th place finish in the Derby. The only time O horses ruled the Derby, Preakness and Belmont was 1935, when Omaha became the third of 11 horses to win the Triple Crown.
? ANOTHER TRY 5 FOR TODD: For the third time, trainer Todd Pletcher will send out five horses in a single Triple Crown race. He's done it twice in the Derby and came back a 10-time loser, and he's got a few big chances to get it done in the Belmont because he has five of the 14 horses (35.7 percent of the field) ? Revolutionary, Unlimited Budget, Palace Malice, Overanalyze and Midnight Taboo. His Derby losers in 2007 were Circular Quay (sixth), Any Given Saturday (eighth), Sam P. (ninth), Scat Daddy (18th) and Cowtown Cat (20th). In last month's Derby, it was Revolutionary (third), Charming Kitten (ninth), Overanalyze (11th), Palace Malice (12th) and Verrazano (14th).
___
Follow Richard Rosenblatt on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/rosenblattap
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Friday, June 7, 2013
Common genetic disease linked to father's age
June 7, 2013 ? Scientists at USC have unlocked the mystery of why new cases of the genetic disease Noonan Syndrome are so common: a mutation that causes the disease disproportionately increases a normal father's production of sperm carrying the disease trait.
When this Noonan syndrome mutation arises in a normal sperm stem cell it makes that cell more likely to reproduce itself than stem cells lacking the mutation. The father then is more likely to have an affected child because more mutant stem cells result in more mutant sperm. The longer the man waits to have children the greater the chance of having a child with Noonan syndrome.
Noonan Syndrome is among the most common genetic diseases with a simple inheritance pattern. About one of every 4,000 live births is a child with a new disease mutation. The disease can cause craniofacial abnormalities, short stature, heart defects, intellectual disability and sometimes blood cancers.
By examining the testes from 15 unaffected men, a team led by USC molecular and computational biologists Norman Arnheim and Peter Calabrese found that the new mutations were highly clustered in the testis, and that the overall proportion of mutated stem cells increased with age. Their computational analysis indicated that the mutation gave a selective edge over non-mutated cells.
"There is competition between stem cells with and without the mutation in each individual testis," said Arnheim, who has joint appointments at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "But what is also unusual in this case is that the mutation which confers the advantage to testis stem cells is disadvantageous to any offspring that inherits it."
The new findings also suggest an important new molecular mechanism to explain how certain genetic disease mutations can alter sperm stem cell function leading to exceptionally high frequencies of new cases every generation.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/K0ybHrM8tXA/130607131014.htm
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Dispatch and Boxer aim to be your email apps of choice on iOS
Even though we have the likes of Sparrow and Mailbox already competing to be the one to handle email duties on your iOS device, chances are a couple more options wouldn't be frowned upon. Here's where the rebranded Boxer and newcomer Dispatch come in. The former, which was previously known as Taskbox, is an app that thrives largely on a swipe-based UI, while the latter describes itself as an "action-based" client that gives you quick access to a vast set of commands (delete, favorite, ignore, etc.). Where Dispatch hopes to stand out from the pack, however, is by making email accounts friendly with things like Evernote, Reminders, Calendar and others, which will then allow you to easily add items such as tasks, notes and scheduled events to those apps.
Boxer, on the other hand, touts a built-in to-do list feature and integration with Dropbox, as well as support for a slew of providers -- including Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Exchange and, with the latest update, Outlook. The Dispatch and Boxer applications are $2.99 (for a limited time) and $4.99, respectively, though Boxer is making its own app a gratis download for the first 10,000 folks who manage to grab it. Interested in either one? Well then, it's a good thing we have both links to the App Store down below -- take your pick.
Via: The Next Web, Cult of Mac
Source: App Store (Boxer), (Dispatch)
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Thursday, June 6, 2013
FreedomPop to start selling smartphones and launch yet another ...
FreedomPop plans to start selling Android smartphones this summer, becoming a full-fledged virtual mobile operator with its own unique twist. As with its freemium mobile broadband service, FreedomPop said it would offer up a baseline plan at no charge, including 500 MB of data, unlimited messaging and 200 minutes of VoIP calling.
FreedomPop is not revealing which devices it will sell or when it will offer them, promising only a launch date of later this summer. I admit I?m a little skeptical about this new curve in FreedomPop?s business model, since this isn?t the first voice service it has promised to deliver.
Back in January, FreedomPop announced a partnership with textPlus to integrate its over-the-top text and VoIP application into its mobile broadband plans. That service was supposed to launch in the first quarter, but it failed to materialize. I asked FreedomPop about the status of that deal and a spokesman told me that a TextPlus-FreedomPop app is still in the works, but would be available to its customers within the next month.
The status of this new voice service also looks a bit iffy. Not only is FreedomPop withholding key details about how the communications service will work ? for instance, whether it will support free out-of-network calls and SMS or will provide customers with phone numbers ? it apparently hasn?t even selected a VoIP provider to power it. According to the spokesman, FreedomPop is still trying to lock down the technology it will use and is even considering working with textPlus as white-label service provider.
I?m not trying to get down on FreedomPop here ? the mobile virtual network operator definitely has some innovative ideas on how to change the mobile industry. But the Atomico-backed startup is developing a reputation for making big promises and then failing to deliver. When it first launched last year, its flagship product was supposed to be an iPhone modem sleeve that connected to Clearwire?s WiMAX network. That sleeve has been caught up in U.S. Customs for nearly a year.
Still, despite FreedomPop?s predisposition toward hype, it has made several promises it has kept. It pre-announced plans to support bandwidth sharing among customers and enter the home broadband market ? both of which came to pass. If FreedomPop can deliver on its new VoIP service, it could shake up the mobile industry. Not only would it bring its freemium data and social bandwidth model to the mobile carrier market, it could become the first operator to offer a completely IP-based mobile service.
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Syrian TV: Army in control of border town Qusair
This Sunday, June 2, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels making bread in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria. Cut off for three weeks by a regime siege, doctors in the Syrian town of Qusair keep hundreds of wounded in storerooms and underground shop cellars, short on antibiotics and anesthesia, using unsterilized cloth for bandages and blowing air with pumps because there?s no oxygen canisters, amid relentless shelling and sniper fire. More than a dozen have died from untreated wounds and at least 300 others need immediate evacuation, one doctor says. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
This Sunday, June 2, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian rebels making bread in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria. Cut off for three weeks by a regime siege, doctors in the Syrian town of Qusair keep hundreds of wounded in storerooms and underground shop cellars, short on antibiotics and anesthesia, using unsterilized cloth for bandages and blowing air with pumps because there?s no oxygen canisters, amid relentless shelling and sniper fire. More than a dozen have died from untreated wounds and at least 300 others need immediate evacuation, one doctor says. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens)
FILE - This Tuesday, May 21, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Qusair Lens, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Syrian citizens gathering over houses that were destroyes from a Syrian forces air strike in the town of Qusair, near the Lebanon border, Homs province, Syria. Cut off for three weeks by a regime siege, doctors in the Syrian town of Qusair keep hundreds of wounded in storerooms and underground shop cellars, short on antibiotics and anesthesia, using unsterilized cloth for bandages and blowing air with pumps because there?s no oxygen canisters, amid relentless shelling and sniper fire. More than a dozen have died from untreated wounds and at least 300 others need immediate evacuation, one doctor says. (AP Photo/Qusair Lens, File)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, regained control on Wednesday of the embattled strategic town of Qusair where fighting has raged with rebels for nearly three weeks, state TV and a local government official said.
The capture of the town, which lies close to the Lebanese border, solidifies some of the regime's recent gains on the ground that have shifted the balance of power in Assad's favor in the Syrian civil war.
The state TV said the army "restored security and peace" after successfully dismantling "terrorist networks" operating in the town over the last few days. An official in the governor's office of Homs province confirmed the report.
"At 6.30 a.m., Qusair became secure," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media about an ongoing military operation.
Government troops, backed by Hezbollah, launched a wide offensive on the town on May 19.
Both sides in the conflict value Qusair, which lies along a land corridor linking two Assad strongholds, the capital of Damascus and an area along the Mediterranean coast that is the heartland of his minority Alawite sect.
For the rebels, who had been in control of the town shortly ever since after the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, holding Qusair meant protecting their supply line to Lebanon, just 10 kilometers (six miles) away.
In the past week, rebels in Qusair called on fighters from all over Syria to come to their aid in the town, and foreign fighters were suspected to be playing a large role in the city's defense.
The Qusair battle has also laid bare Hezbollah's growing role in the Syrian conflict. The Shiite militant group, which has been fighting alongside Assad's troops, initially tried to play down its involvement, but could no longer do so after dozens of its fighters were killed in Qusair and buried in large funerals in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, firmly linked his militant group's fate to the survival of the Syrian regime, raising the stakes not just in Syria, but also in Hezbollah's relations with rival groups in Lebanon.
Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV, which has reporters embedded with Syrian troops, was reporting live from Qusair on Wednesday, showing images of damaged buildings and a deserted town. The reporter said there was no sign of fighting.
The municipal building in the center of Qusair appeared to be pockmarked from fighting. A Syrian flag was raised above it, claiming government control of the town.
The official Syrian news agency SANA said some of the rebel fighters have surrendered.
___
El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report.
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Pay still excessive in Britain's financial services, say workers
LONDON (Reuters) - Pay and bonuses in Britain's financial services sector remain excessive and encourage risk-taking, according to those working in it, undermining efforts by politicians and regulators to reform an industry blamed for its role in the financial crisis.
Britons struggling in the economic downturn have been infuriated by financial services companies, particularly banks rescued by the government at the height of the crisis, which continue to dole out rewards many times the average wage.
Three-quarters of financial services employees, and two-thirds of senior managers, said some people in their organisations were still paid excessively, according to a survey published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) on Thursday.
Almost two-thirds of the 1,000 workers polled also said some of their colleagues were rewarded in a way that encouraged inappropriate behaviour, for example withholding information from co-workers, excessive and unauthorised risk-taking and even lying to customers. Fewer than one in three said they were proud to work in the financial services sector.
On top of the anger over pay, the public's trust in the industry has been shaken by a series of scandals including interest rate-rigging, breaches of anti-money laundering controls and the mis-selling of products.
Chancellor George Osborne set up a cross-party Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards last year to look at how to change the culture at banks. It will report its recommendations later this month.
Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, said some progress has been made, with culture change now being taken seriously by the bosses of big institutions, as well as executive boards and regulators.
He described comments from people like Barclay's Chief Executive Antony Jenkins, who on his arrival at the bank last year vowed to tear up Barclays' profits-at-all-costs culture, as the "first and most critical step" towards realising change. But he said there was still a long way to go.
The CIPD survey showed the focus on reform has yet to trickle down from the top, with less than 40 percent of workers saying senior management had led culture change initiatives within their organisations.
Cheese said firms who did not try to change could face wider problems, particularly with recruiting.
"This generation (of graduates) is looking at it slightly differently and they are not leaping to work with a bank because they don't trust and believe in the culture, purpose and value of the bank."
(Reporting by Clare Hutchison; Editing by Pravin Char)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pay-still-excessive-britains-financial-services-workers-230532236.html
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Stinky feet may lead to better malaria traps
LONDON (AP) ? For decades, health officials have battled malaria with insecticides, bed nets and drugs. Now, scientists say there might be a potent new tool to fight the deadly mosquito-borne disease: the stench of human feet.
In a laboratory study, researchers found that mosquitoes infected with the tropical disease were more attracted to human odors from a dirty sock than those that didn't carry malaria. Insects carrying malaria parasites were three times more likely to be drawn to the stinky stockings.
The new finding may help create traps that target only malaria-carrying mosquitoes, researchers say.
"Smelly feet have a use after all," said Dr. James Logan, who headed the research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "Every time we identify a new part of how the malaria mosquito interacts with us, we're one step closer to controlling it better."
The sock findings were published last month in the journal, PLoS One.
Malaria is estimated to kill more than 600,000 people every year, mostly children in Africa.
Experts have long known that mosquitoes are drawn to human odors, but it was unclear if being infected with malaria made them even more attracted to us. Infected mosquitoes are believed to make up about 1 percent of the mosquito population.
Using traps that only target malaria mosquitoes could result in fewer mosquitoes becoming resistant to the insecticides used to kill them. And it would likely be difficult for the insects to evade traps based on their sense of smell, scientists say.
"The only way mosquitoes could (develop resistance) is if they were less attracted to human odors," said Andrew Read, a professor of biology and entomology at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not part of Logan's research. "And if they did that and started feeding on something else ? like cows ? that would be fine."
Read said the same strategy might also work to target insects that carry other diseases such as dengue and Japanese encephalitis.
In a related study, Logan and colleagues also sealed human volunteers into a foil bag to collect their body odor as they grew hot and sweaty. The odors were then piped into a tube next door, alongside another tube untainted by human odor. Afterwards, mosquitoes were released and had the option of flying into either tube. The insects buzzed in droves into the smelly tube.
Logan said the next step is to identify the chemicals in human foot odor so that it can be made synthetically for mosquito traps. But given mosquitoes' highly developed sense of smell, getting that formula right will be challenging.
Some smelly cheeses have the same odor as feet, Logan noted.
"But mosquitoes aren't attracted to cheese because they've evolved to know the difference," he said. "You have to get the mixture, ratios and concentrations of those chemicals exactly right otherwise the mosquito won't think it's a human."
Scientists said it's crucial to understand the subtleties of mosquito behavior. Other studies have shown mosquitoes don't become attracted to humans for about two weeks ? the time it takes for the malaria parasites to become infectious for humans.
"At the moment, we only have these glimpses of how parasites are manipulating the mosquitoes," said George Christophides, chair of infectious disease and immunity at Imperial College London. "We need to exploit that information to help us control malaria."
___
Online:
Journal: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063602
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John Maguire promises denim shorts, Flashdance song for UFC 161 walkout if you follow him
This is the best thing you'll see all day. John Maguire is fighting Mitch Clarke at UFC 161, and he has plans and an outfit for a walkout to remember, with a catch. Maguire will wear Tobias F?nke-esque shorts to the cage while listening to "Maniac" if he gets 10,000 followers on Twitter. The video above is just a hint of what's to come if you follow Maguire. As of this writing, he's at 9,492 followers. Get him to 10K by following him here.
Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
? Assembly speaker standing in the way of law legalizing MMA in New York
? Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua won't be fighting in UFC 161 after all
? Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson signs with Bellator
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Wednesday, June 5, 2013
11 Spectacular 3D Printer Failures
Just because you have a 3D printer doesn't mean you're going to make anything remarkable. It doesn't even mean you're going to wind up with what you set out to produce. Believe it or not, 3D printing requires some skill. And when you don't have it, things go delightfully askew.
While there are plenty of possibilities with a 3D printer, there's also just about as much room for human error. You can't let the printer get too hot. But it must be hot enough! And you don't want it to work too quickly. But it has to work quickly enough! You're going to mess up. But you're not alone. Here are some of great examples of some pretty egregious 3D printing failures:
Whistles that can't even whistle should be called something else.
Image credit: Flickr
Apparently, this was supposed to be some type of animal.
Image credit: Pinterest
A failed attempt at a Celtic skull, via an entire Flickr group dedicated to 3D printer failures.
Image credit: Flickr
This ruined car comes from Beautiful Failures, a book that presents 3D printer screw-ups as art.
Image credit: Cunicode
This botched bust is supposed to be Walt Disney. Squint hard, and maybe you can kind of see it. (You can't).
Image credit: Flickr
What's this supposed to be? Trojan Horse. The answer we were looking for is Trojan Horse.
Image credit: FailThing
Definitely don't try to use this 3D-printed glass as a glass if you have any desire to use it for drinking.
Image credit: FailThing
This would-be owl is missing his head. And most of his body.
Image credit: FailThing
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and 3D-printed Windsor Chairs.
Image credit: CNET
Here you see the makings of a starfish. Unfortunately, the machine ran out of material.
Image credit: RichRap
Bonus round: This iPhone shoe abomination isn't technically a failure, we're going to include it as a reminder of what NOT to do with a 3D printer. Because seriously, what the hell?
Image credit: BetaBeat
Have any favorite 3D-printing fails of your own? Share 'em below!
Source: http://gizmodo.com/11-spectacular-3d-printer-failures-511092085
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6 games we expect never to see the light of day | GamesRadar
In 2011, Ubisoft released a video showcasing target footage for a new Rainbow Six game, subtitled Patriots. While we're used to putting down droves of terrorists in this series of tactical shooters, the "homegrown" variety showcased in the pre-rendered video hit a bit close to home. In it, disgruntled Americans fed up with a collapsed economy had formed a terrorist cell known as the Patriots, taking down money-hungry bank tycoons and anyone deemed somewhat responsible for the United States' financial downward spiral.
The gameplay improvements looked promising, with a substantial increase in tactical options and AI smarts. And its story--though a bit unsettling--seemed poised to provide a bit of social commentary on modern-day terrorism. But in March 2012, Patriots' creative director, narrative director, lead designer, and animation director were all removed from the project. Then, in May 2013, Patriots was delisted from GameStop's pre-order database, and Ubisoft has remained silent on its status ever since. Goodbye, Rainbow 6: Patriots; we hardly knew thee.
Source: http://www.gamesradar.com/6-games-we-expect-never-see-light-day/
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Relatives scuffle with police after China fire kills 120
By Maxim Duncan
DEHUI, China (Reuters) - Relatives of workers killed as fire engulfed a chicken processing plant in rural northeast China blocked traffic and scuffled with police on Tuesday, demanding answers to one of China's worst industrial disasters in recent years. At least 120 people died, and more than 70 were injured.
A handful of men and woman knelt in the middle of the road in Dehui in Jilin province to stop cars, while a crowd of more than 100 people gathered around them. Police dispersed the protesters after about an hour.
Zhao Zhenchun, who lost both his wife and his sister in the fire, said human error was to blame for the death toll. "I don't think safety was being managed properly. This should never happen again. They paid the price with their blood. So many of these big disasters in China are caused by lax supervision," he said.
The world's second-largest economy has a poor record on workplace safety. Fire exits in factories are often locked to prevent workers taking time off or stealing things, or blocked entirely. "The rationale behind the locked doors boils down to efficiency. With the doors locked, workers cannot wander about freely, and therefore concentrate on their work," the official Xinhua news agency said.
Safety regulations are also easily skirted by bribing corrupt officials, and in any case China has relatively few fire safety inspectors.
"Tragically, most of the inspections usually come after a disaster like this," said Geoffrey Crothall, a China labor expert with Hong Kong-based advocacy group China Labour Bulletin. "There's very little proactive or routine inspections of factories to make sure everybody's up to code and that's largely because there are too many factories and too few inspectors."
It is a safety record likely to prompt concerns overseas as Chinese companies buy stakes in or take over foreign food producers, such as Shuanghui International Holdings' $4.7 billion offer last week to buy leading U.S. pork producer Smithfield Foods.
LOSS OF FACE
The disaster is also a major loss of face for a country which seeks to project a global image of a modern, rising power, different from developing countries like Bangladesh where such industrial disasters are frequent.
It is especially embarrassing as it comes just days ahead of an informal summit between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama at which China would very much like to be viewed as an equal to the world's sole superpower.
Ironically, Monday's fire in a building that was just four years old coincided with China announcing its latest manned space mission, a multi-billion dollar scheme designed to showcase the nation's technological prowess and arrival on the world stage after decades of isolation and poverty.
"Many countries have the basic ability to avoid one-time disasters in which more than 100 people die ... China has reached this point," the Global Times, a widely read and influential tabloid, said in an editorial about the fire.
"It is ... a blow to China's modernization and the latest proof that Chinese society is unable to balance development and safety risks."
Fearful of further unrest - Tuesday marks the sensitive 24th anniversary of China's bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators - Beijing has ordered tight reporting controls.
"Strengthen guidance of public opinion ... strengthen management of the Internet and other new media, resolutely prevent the malicious stirring up or spreading of rumors and gossip," Xinhua said, citing a government meeting.
IN CUSTODY
The government has moved quickly to detain those believed responsible for the fire. While state media has not released details on them they will likely face long jail sentences, judging from how previous disasters have been handled.
A Xinhua report said ammonia gas leaks could have caused the explosions at the plant, which is owned by Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co, a small local feed and poultry producer. Jilin is a largely agricultural province and an important producer of corn and soybeans.
Despite a series of food safety scandals in recent years, there have been relatively few large-scale fatal disasters in China's fast-growing but fragmented food processing sector. Twenty-one people died in 2003 at a meat processing plant in Qingdao, and the China Labour Bulletin said in a report then that management prevented some staff from fleeing until they had "moved the stock to a safe place."
PREMISES LOCKED
More than 300 workers were in the plant at Dehui on Monday, with employees saying they heard a bang and then saw smoke, Xinhua reported. Around 100 workers managed to escape from the plant, whose gate was locked when the fire broke out, it added. Nearby houses were evacuated.
On Tuesday, Yang Xiuya sat cross-legged in front of a car and shouted angrily at police, insisting the doors of the slaughterhouse had been locked at the time of the fire. "My daughter worked there. They haven't given us any explanation. It was time for my daughter to leave work, but the door was locked, so they all burned to death," she shouted.
Another relative screamed at a line of dozens of unarmed SWAT police officers and tried to attack them before women pulled him back. "We can't see our family members and there's no information. We can't see the survivors or the bodies of the dead. They need to let us see the bodies," he shouted, wiping away angry tears.
Many of China's deadly industrial accidents happen in the huge coal mining industry, in which more than 1,300 people died last year from explosions, mine collapses and floods. China's worst fire disaster in recent times was in 1994 when 325 died in a theatre blaze in the far western region of Xinjiang in 1994.
(Additional reporting by Terril Yue Jones and Hui Li, and James Pomfret in HONG KONG; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/relatives-scuffle-police-china-fire-kills-120-043722833.html
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Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Apple enlists Winnie-the-Pooh in e-book argument
NEW YORK (AP) ? An Apple Inc. lawyer used Winnie-the-Pooh and millions of customers too in trying to convince a judge the computer giant did not manipulate electronic book prices and stifle competition when it opened an online bookstore three years ago.
Attorney Orin Snyder enlisted the popular children's title Tuesday as he questioned David Shanks, the top executive at publisher Penguin Group USA, during the second day of an anti-trust civil trial resulting from a lawsuit brought last year by the Justice Department.
The Penguin chief executive officer conceded the Winnie-the-Pooh book looks "extremely beautiful" in color on Apple products and not as good in black and white on other devices. He said "irrational enthusiasm" about the potential for 80 million to 100 million Apple customers to buy books online led the company to meet many of Apple's demands in 2010.
Snyder was trying to rebut government claims Apple and five book publishers conspired to eliminate Seattle-based Amazon.com's $9.99 bargain price for popular e-books by agreeing to a pricing policy that forced millions of consumers to pay more than they should have for most online books.
Under questioning by Justice Department lawyer Mark Ryan, Shanks said Penguin was not pleased that Amazon was selling its electronic books below cost before Apple entered the market since the publisher tried to maintain "a fairly delicate ecosystem in publishing where we are trying to have everybody make a profit: the author, the publisher and the reseller."
Penguin, the last of five publishers to settle its case with the government, tried to maintain a pricing agreement with Amazon that would enable the online megastore to continue its $9.99 price for e-books but had to change its position once Barnes & Noble ? then the second largest seller of e-books ? entered the market with a pricing scheme similar to Apple's, Shanks testified. He said Penguin otherwise would have risked losing money.
Apple has insisted that its entrance into the e-book market improved the online book industry and stabilized prices in the long term.
Shanks said Apple insisted on limits to prices for e-books at a time when some believed the prices for e-books could be steadily increased. He said the negotiations with Apple were not unlike many of the other 100 or so negotiations he has conducted in his 35 years in the book publishing industry.
Now, he testified, Penguin is better able to project its sales of hardbacks, paperbacks and e-books, in part because the electronic book industry is established and more predictable and because it is clear the number of printed books is decreasing. The company agreed in a deal announced last month to pay $75 million to settle claims against it.
Under questioning from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, Shanks conceded he was worried about whether Amazon would retaliate against Penguin for its dealings with the Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple.
He said Penguin had decided it did not want to enter the Apple deal to price e-books at $12.99 and $14.99 unless at least three of the largest six publishers were joining the Apple bookstore as well. Without them, he said, consumers would be disappointed that there was not a sufficient selection of books available.
"We think the consumer want to feel they're viewing the whole gamut of books," he said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-enlists-winnie-pooh-e-book-argument-212723555.html
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