রবিবার, ৩০ জুন, ২০১৩

How To Take Care of Your Smartphone Battery the Right Way

How To Take Care of Your Smartphone Battery the Right Way

Your smartphone is a minor miracle, a pocket-sized computer that can fulfill almost every whim. But none of its superpowers matter a bit if it runs out of juice. With removable batteries becoming more and more rare, you've got to take good care of the one you got. Fortunately, it's not to hard keep the lithium-ion powering your everything machine happy if you follow a few simple rules.

Obviously, the first rule for extending your battery life is not using up all your battery life playing candy crush and walking around with Wi-Fi and GPS enabled when you're not using either and really, really need your phone to last that extra hour. But aside from that, there are some basic rules for care and charging, and they're the simplest baseline for a healthy battery.

Top it off

You may vaguely recall hearing something about rechargeable batteries and the "memory effect." You know, that if you don't "teach" your rechargeable batteries their full potential by taking them from totally full to totally empty, they'll "forget" part of their capacity. Well forget all that. Right now. It's wrong.

Battery memory is a real thing, but it applies to nickel-based batteries; your trusty sidekick (literal Sidekick or otherwise) doubtlessly has a lithium-ion battery, and it needs to be treated a little differently. Specifically, it should be topped off whenever you get the chance.

To get the most out of a lithium-ion battery, you should try to keep it north of 50 percent as much as possible. Going from all the way full to all the way empty won't help at all; in fact, it'll do a little damage, and it's even worse if do a full drain on a regular basis. It won't make your battery explode or anything, but it will shorten its lifespan.

But! You don't want to have it charging all the time either; lithium-ion batteries can get overheated. Luckily for you, your charger is smart enough to help with this, and will cut your phone off for a spell once it's full. And to complicate matters a little further your battery doesn't particularly like being all the way full either. In fact, your battery will behave the best if you take it off the charge before it hits 100 percent, and leaving it plugged when it's already full is going to cause a little degradation.

So if you're really particular about optimizing your battery's life, you should try to go from around 40 percent to around 80 percent in one go, and then back down whenever possible. A bunch of tiny charges isn't as bad as going from 100 down to zero all the time, but it's not optimal either.

Keep it cool

It's easy to worry about bad charging habits thanks to the training we've had from old rechargeable batteries, but lithium-ion batteries have a worse enemy: heat. Your smartphone's battery will degrade much much faster when it's hot, regardless of whether it's being used or just sitting around doing nothing.

At an average temperature of 32 degrees fahrenheit, a lithium-ion battery will lose six percent of its maximum capacity per year. At 77 degrees, that number jumps to 20 percent, and at 104 degrees it's a whopping 35. Sure, it's not exactly practical (or sane) to keep your phone in the fridge, but it's worth going out of your way to prevent long stays in hot cars and the like.

Avoid wireless charging

Wireless charging is can be incredibly convenient if your phone can do it, but it's not without its disadvantages. The inductive, wireless chargers out there today have this nasty habit of generating a fair bit of waste heat. And while wasted energy is just a bummer in general, that heat will also toast your battery in the process. That's no bueno. It's a little less convenient, but standard plug-in charging is going to keep your battery in better shape, especially if you're some place warm to begin with.

Never go to zero

Obviously, using your battery is going to make it degrade. But it's going to slowly die even if you just leave that iPad in the closet for a bit. There's a trick to minimizing that inevitable aging though: leave it a little bit of juice.

If you're going to be shelving any lithium-ion battery for a long time, try to leave it with at least 40 percent battery power to tide it over. Lithium-ion batteries don't hemmorage power at 30 percent a month like nickel-metal-hydride batteries do; they'll lose maybe five to ten percent of their charge each month.

And when lithium-ion batteries get too low?like, literally zero percent?they get seriously unstable, and dangerous to charge. To prevent explosion-type disasters if you do try to charge one, lithium-ion batteries have built-in self-destruct circuits that will disable (read: destroy) the battery for good, if it reaches rock bottom. And sure, that'll save you from a face full of battery-acid, but it'll also leave you short one battery.

Don't sweat it too much

It's easy to get protective of your battery, but it's also easy to get lazy. And that's fine, because as long as you're not a complete idiot, you'll be OK. Typically, a lithium-ion battery lasts for three to five years, and chances are you're going to want to swap out your gadgets sometime in that window anyway. The slight damage of a technically bad idea like leaving your phone plugged in all night every night, or using wireless charging, might be worth the convenience.

Still, it's pretty easy to keep your battery reasonably healthy just by avoiding particularly egregious torture like letting your phone discharge from full to zero every single day, or leaving it in a hot car all the time. And the next time you make it back home with power to spare, you'll thank yourself for it.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-to-take-care-of-your-smartphone-battery-the-right-w-513217256

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Vanderbilt University football players suspended in sex crimes investigation (+video)

Four Vanderbilt University football players have been dismissed from the team during an investigation of alleged sex crimes at a university dormitory. This follows other recent instances of sex crimes tied to football players.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / June 29, 2013

Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee. The university announced that four football player have been dismissed from the team and temporarily suspended during an investigation of sex crimes alleged to have taken place in a dormitory.

Vanderbilt University

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Vanderbilt University has dismissed four football players from the team and suspended them from the university as the result of a sex crimes investigation.

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A statement on the school?s web site says only that the four were dismissed from the team and suspended ?for violation of team rules.?

?The well-being of our students is of paramount concern to us, and we will not tolerate any actions that threaten student safety and security,? Beth Fortune, Vanderbilt vice chancellor for public affairs, said in a statement Saturday.

In its brief statement, the school noted that ?Vanderbilt first reported the matter that led to the dismissals to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department and is fully cooperating with the Metro Police investigation.?

?They may not return to campus for any purpose without explicit permission from the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity,? according to the statement.

The Tennessean?newspaper in Nashville reported Saturday that ?Metro police and Vanderbilt?s administration were keeping a tight lid on details of the incident and no arrests had been made as of Friday night.?

?I can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Department?s Sex Crimes Unit began an investigation on Wednesday in regard to a matter that was alleged to have occurred at a Vanderbilt University dormitory,? Don Aaron, spokesman for Metro police, told The Tennessean. ?Our sex crimes detectives became involved as the result of a notification to us on Wednesday from Vanderbilt University police. The investigation remains very much in progress.?

Named for shipping?and?rail?magnate?"Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt,?the private university in Nashville has about 12,000 students.

?Under head coach James Franklin, the Commodores enjoyed one of their most successful seasons in recent history in 2012,? writes columnist Tyler Conway on the ?Bleacher Report? sports web site. ?In his second season, the 41-year-old Franklin led a renaissance in a program that has historically struggled. After starting the campaign off 2-4, the Commodores reeled off seven consecutive wins?. Vanderbilt defeated North Carolina State 38-24 in the?Music City Bowl?to cap off the late-season run, just their third bowl win in school history.?

?Franklin returns next season with expectations high for a repeat performance,? writes Conway. ?While there is still plenty to be investigated in this matter, the Commodores will certainly feel the blow of losing four players should the suspensions last into the 2013 season.? So far, Coach Franklin has not commented on the matter.

The news from Vanderbilt follows several other recent instances of football players charged with sexual misconduct.

The US Naval Academy last week charged three Navy football players with sexually assaulting a female midshipman at an off-campus house last year. The academy said in a news release that the male midshipmen are being charged with rape, sexual assault or other sexual misconduct, and making a false official statement.

?We teach our guys more than blocking and tackling, trying to do what?s right,? Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said this week, as reported by the Washington Post. ?All we want is the truth to come out. We believe in the judicial system. We believe in our country and its judicial system. Our main concern is that the truth comes out, and whatever it is, that justice is served.?

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports, two Connecticut high school football players have been charged in sexual assault cases that, like a recent high-profile Ohio rape case, have led to online taunts directed at an accuser.

The two 18-year-old Torrington High School players were charged with felony second-degree sexual assault and other crimes last month in cases involving different 13-year-old girls.

In the Ohio case, two Steubenville High School football players were sentenced to at least a year in juvenile jail after being found guilty of assaulting a drunken 16-year-old girl. The case bitterly divided the city and led to accusations of a cover-up to protect the athletes.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/v9PQDaPGHqc/Vanderbilt-University-football-players-suspended-in-sex-crimes-investigation-video

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শনিবার, ২৯ জুন, ২০১৩

Obama urges House to pass immigration reform by August

By Jeff Mason

PRETORIA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Saturday urged the House of Representatives to follow the lead of the Senate and pass a bill by August to reform the U.S. immigration system.

Speaking during a press conference in South Africa, Obama said there was more than enough time for lawmakers to finish work on the issue before their summer recess.

Immigration reform is one of the president's top domestic issues. The Senate recently passed a bill that would strengthen U.S. border security and provide a way for undocumented immigrants in the United States to obtain citizenship. Obama welcomed the passage of that bill.

Despite strong bipartisan support for the Senate bill, the leader of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, John Boehner, said the measure was dead on arrival in his chamber. Boehner said House Republicans would write their own bill.

Many House Republicans oppose citizenship for immigrants who are in the United States illegally, arguing law-breakers should not be rewarded. Any House Republican bill is expected to focus heavily on border security and on finding immigrants who have outstayed their visas.

But watering down the measure further may not be acceptable to Obama, who repeated on Saturday that he sees the Senate bill as far from perfect.

Even though congressional Republicans have been reluctant to cooperate with Obama, many see immigration reform as a political necessity to improve their standing with Hispanic voters, who overwhelming supported Obama in November's election.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Ed Stoddard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-urges-house-pass-immigration-reform-august-111737311.html

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Senate on verge of historic immigration vote

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate stood poised Thursday to approve historic immigration legislation opening the door to U.S. citizenship to millions and promising a dramatic build-up of manpower and technology along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The vote on final passage of the White House-backed bill was expected as early as Thursday afternoon, after a series of test votes so far this week demonstrated supporters command a bipartisan majority well over the 60 votes needed to secure passage and send the bill to the House. First must come two more procedural tests set for Thursday morning.

"It's landmark legislation that will secure our borders and help 11 million people get right with the law," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor Thursday ahead of the votes.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., countered that the bill doesn't ensure true border security since people here illegally can obtain a provisional legal status under the legislation before any security goals are accomplished. "This bill may pass the Senate today, but not with my vote. And in its current form, it won't become law," McConnell said.

Supporters posted 67 votes or more on each of three procedural tests Wednesday. More than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats on each, ensuring bipartisan support that the bill's backers hope will change minds in the House.

The outlook there is uncertain. Many House conservatives oppose the pathway to citizenship at the center of the Senate bill. And many prefer a piecemeal approach rather than a sweeping bill like the one the Senate is producing.

The House Judiciary Committee is in the midst of a piece-by-piece effort, turning its attention Thursday to a bill on high-skilled workers.

On Wednesday the committee signed off on legislation establishing a system to require all employers to check their workers' legal status on a faster timeframe than the Senate bill contemplates. And last week it approved two other measures, one establishing a new agricultural guest worker program and a second making illegal presence in the country a federal crime, instead of a civil offense as it is now.

None of the bills weighed by the Judiciary Committee contemplate a path to citizenship or even legalization for the millions already here.

At its core, the legislation in the Senate includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration, while at the same time it offers a chance at citizenship to the 11 million immigrants now living in the country unlawfully.

It provides for 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, requires the completion of 700 miles of fencing and requires an array of high-tech devices to be deployed to secure the border with Mexico. Those security changes would be accomplished over a decade and would have to be in place before anyone in provisional legal status could obtain a permanent resident green card.

Businesses would be required to check on the legal status of prospective employees. Other provisions would expand the number of visas for highly skilled workers relied upon by the technology industry. A separate program would be established for lower-skilled workers, and farm workers would be admitted under a temporary program.

The basic legislation was drafted by four Democrats and four Republicans who met privately for months to produce a rare bipartisan compromise in a polarized Senate. They fended off unwanted changes in the Senate Judiciary Committee and then were involved in negotiations with Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee on a package of tougher border security provisions that swelled support among Republicans.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-verge-historic-immigration-vote-061838460.html

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Kerry's shuttle diplomacy lands him in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shuttled between Israelis and Palestinians Friday in his latest diplomatic mission to coax the two sides back to the negotiating table and revive the Mideast peace process.

Kerry returned to Jerusalem for second visit in less than 24 hours after a 2?-hour meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan, Kerry's base of operations during his stop in the Middle East.

That followed a lengthy dinner meeting Thursday night in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The goal is to restart talks on finding a two-state solution to the conflict.

Kerry, who's on a two-week swing through the Middle East and Asia, met with Abbas in a diplomatic area of the Jordanian capital.

"It's good to be back and I look forward to our conversation. We have a lot to talk about, obviously, as you know," Kerry told Abbas.

As reporters and photographers were ushered out of the meeting, Kerry turned to Abbas and said: "We had a good long meeting." It was an apparent reference to his meeting with Netanyahu the night before. "We're going back."

The State Department said Kerry and Abbas had a "very constructive discussion" focused on advancing the peace process, and that Iran and Syria also came up.

After the first Netanyahu session, the department said the two had a "productive, in-depth and wide-ranging conversation" and that Kerry reiterated his commitment to working with all parties to achieve a two-state solution.

State Department officials say Kerry will continue to try to find common ground between the two sides that would lead to a resumption of negotiations. On this trip, Kerry is trying to pin down precisely what conditions Abbas and Netanyahu have for resuming talks and perhaps discuss confidence-building measures.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerrys-shuttle-diplomacy-lands-him-jerusalem-131327809.html

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শুক্রবার, ২৮ জুন, ২০১৩

Digg has updated its iOS app to incorporate its experimental new Reader?and it'll directly import yo

Digg has updated its iOS app to incorporate its experimental new Reader?and it'll directly import your feeds from Google Reader, too. Go get it.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/digg-has-updated-its-ios-app-to-incorporate-its-experim-595741773

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Vale Stephen Conroy: Australia's greatest ever Communications ...

stephenconroy

opinion For all his flaws and missteps, Stephen Conroy has been an incredible reformer and revolutionary force for change in Australia?s technology sector over most of the past decade. He will ultimately be remembered as Australia?s greatest ever Communications Minister; a visionary who almost single-handedly drove the creation of the National Broadband Network.

If you were following Australian politics at all last night, you would very likely have been preoccupied with the fate of the major actors in the Federal arena. You would have gasped as Kevin Rudd?s victory over Julia Gillard for the Prime Ministership was announced. You would have admired Gillard?s iron stoicism in defeat and Wayne Swan?s cheery determination to continue on. You would have had mixed feelings at seeing a fairly grim Rudd once again take up the leadership mantle, almost three years to the day after it was torn from him.

Unless you were specifically keeping an eye out for it, as I was, you probably didn?t pay too much attention to some of the collateral damage coming out of this struggle of the titans. Certainly the television networks and online commentators last night gave scant airtime to considering the serious implications of some of the ripples which Rudd?s massive wave of change caused.

This morning i want to give just one of those ripples the attention that it?s due. I speak, of course, of the quiet and dignified resignation last night of Senator Stephen Conroy from the post of Leader of the Senate and, more importantly for Australia?s technology sector, from the role of Communications Minister.

Conroy?s resignation came as no real surprise to those of us who track the Victorian Senator closely.

Of course, there is the obvious fact that Conroy, a long-time Gillard supporter who has made his feelings about Rudd?s mismanagement of the Cabinet in his first tenure as Prime Minister very plain, had already earlier this week stated that he would be very unlikely to serve in a new Rudd cabinet. Along with Wayne Swan, Conroy was expected to be one of the first senior Gillard supporters to depart the sinking ship, in the event of a successful Rudd challenge. And, true to his word (a rarity in politics), he fell on his sword minutes after Rudd?s victory was announced.

However, it?s also true that there has been a certain weariness around Conroy?s performance in his portfolio for much of the past year, and for good reason. There are quite a few in the sector who had suspected that Conroy would make way for a new Minister and seek the back bench following the upcoming Federal Election ? perhaps even if Labor was successful in retaining government.

The reason for Conroy?s weariness is very apparent to those who have followed events in the telecommunications portfolio over the past half-decade since Labor first came to power.

If you think about the most important portfolios in Federal Government politics, it?s normally areas such as Treasury, Finance, Defence, Immigration, Education, Welfare and Health which come to mind. These are the areas which normally require the closest oversight by Ministers; they are big-spending portfolios where ideological differences exist between the various parties, and where politicking is common. It is these areas which politicians usually aspire to Ministership in.

Prior to Conroy?s ascension to the Communications Ministership in November 2007, the Communications portfolio was not a particularly important one. Previous ministers in the portfolio ? such as Helen Coonan and Richard Alston ? primarily oversaw regulatory changes in the area which could be best described as ?tweaking?. For decades, Australian governments have not invested directly in telecommunications, preferring instead to gradually deregulate the sector and slowly progress the privatisation of former government monopoly Telstra, stimulating competition along the way.

Conroy?s ascension to the Communications Ministership in 2007 changed all this and vaulted the communications portfolio into one of the nation?s most important and the position of Communications Minister into a key senior Cabinet post.

As I wrote at the time, the Senator had realised what very few others in politics then understood; that the problem of broadband blackspots and the gridlock created by the Howard Government?s abject failure to structurally separate Telstra?s wholesale and retail operations (as other countries such as the UK were in the process of doing with their own incumbent telcos) had left a massive opportunity open for a progressive Labor administration to take direct action in the sector. And Conroy also proved himself politically astute at the time; as shortly before his own ascension to the Prime Ministership, Conroy was able to persuade the then-Opposition Leader Rudd of the importance of unprecedented government intervention in the sector.

It must be said that Conroy bungled his first several years as Communications Minister, and wasted much of this opportunity ? as new Ministers often do, before they get a grip on their portfolios.

The first, $4.7 billion plan to upgrade Telstra?s copper telecommunications network with fibre to the node broadband technology in partnership with industry was a hopelessly naive plan which eventually imploded in Conroy?s face due to a combination of factors; Telstra?s hostile leadership led by imported US executive Sol Trujillo and his cadre of ?amigos?, as well as the lack of interest by foreign investors in getting their feet wet in the regulatory quagmire of Australia?s telecommunications sector, and the inability of Telstra?s rivals (despite their own deep pockets) to present a truly viable co-investment plan to deal with its monopolistic nature.

Then too, Conroy also at the time fell massively foul of one of the smallest aspects of the Rudd Government?s telecommunications policy which conservative religious elements were successful at sneaking into Labor?s platform shortly before Rudd took power in November 2007; its hugely unpopular mandatory Internet filter project.

It has long been suspected that Conroy did not personally support this policy and that the Minister would have abandoned it quickly if he had the choice, as he was eventually able to late last year after largely neutralising it as an election issue back in 2010. I guess we?ll find out for sure if Conroy ever publishes a biography. However, of course Conroy did not have the choice, and Rudd?s own somewhat socially conservative background coupled with the Prime Minister?s incredibly stubborn nature placed Conroy in the unfortunately position as poster child for the filter; a position which would continually see the Senator ridiculed in public over the first several years of his Ministership.

To be honest, the filter issue still dogs Conroy, and unfortunately it will be one of the defining policies he will be remembered for in his tenure as Communications Minister. You can see this in the approbrium heaped on the Senator last night as his resignation was made public. ?Good riddance to bad rubbish,? wrote one commenter on Delimiter last night. ?Conroy was the worst and the most incompetent Communications Minister of all times,? wrote another. And of course, it is unlikely that Conroy will ever live down the ignominy of being named ?Internet villain of the year? at the UK?s Internet industry awards in June 2009, at the height of the public?s disapproval of the Internet filter policy.

To say that this is unfortunate is a collossal understatement. For Conroy?s accomplishments in the Communications portfolio since he found his feet in it in early 2009 are truly remarkable, far outshadowing his filter missteps and and placing him in a small elite of Australian politicians who have made huge impacts on the industries which they oversee, as well as a tiny group of Australian politicians who have truly understood technology and the Internet.

Conroy?s pi?ce de r?sistance; his shining glory in the portfolio, will always be the early 2009 generation of the Federal Government?s current National Broadband Network policy from the ashes of the old failed policy it took to the 2007 election.

If you go back to the development and launch of the policy (you can find more information about its genesis here), it?s clear that it was a unique confluence of factors centering on Conroy personally that fulfilled the creation of the modern NBN policy as we know it today.

Because of the years he had experienced steeped in the nitty-gritty details of the telecommunications sector, Conroy was able to see that the global long-term future of the telecommunications sector was clearly based on universal fibre deployment. Countries such as South Korea and Japan had already been able to steal a march globally because of the early and expensive bets placed in those geographies, and forward-thinkers in other countries such as Europe and the US, which had often focused on cheaper HFC and fibre to the node rollouts, were already looking ahead to the fibre needs of the next decades.

Conroy?s genius (with a little help from Australia?s own industry) was the realisation that he could use the electoral lure of universal fibre broadband to almost all Australians to simultaneously deliver a number of other policy aims. Replacing Telstra?s copper network with a fibre network would once and for all deal with the technical problems inherent in upgrading that network, and setting up a new, wholesale-only fibre monopoly would once and for all deal with Telstra?s structural separation issues, as the previous Howard Government had failed to do. Along the way, Conroy could also argue that the development of the NBN would stimulate Australia?s economy and assist in its switch to an information economy and away from Australia?s resources and agricultural roots, and there was also the likelihood that the NBN would eventually pay for itself through user subscriptions.

The Senator also knew that only one type of administration would be likely to support such a plan; a new Labor Government backed by a massively popular Prime Minister who would be willing to take a risks to deliver a once in a lifetime infrastructure project. And that?s precisely what the Rudd administration was at that time.

If you go back and watch the press conference in April 2009 where Rudd and Conroy announced the NBN, with hindsight, there is a sense of ridiculous naivity about the event.

Rudd was pushing things way too far with his cabinet and the Labor caucus, an arrogant approach which would result in the night of the long knives a year later. And Conroy, honestly, had no idea that implementing the NBN policy would be as hard as it has been since that time. Project management of a national infrastructure initiative is tough; a lot tougher than announcing it.

But at the time, there was also sense that the pair were introducing something genuinely new and visionary to the Australian political arena; a massive new infrastructure project which would deliver fantastic service delivery outcomes, reform the telecommunications industry and set up Australia for the new digital millennium along the way.

Over the years since that time, there is no doubt that the NBN project as a whole has gone remarkably off-track. It?s universally acknowledged that the project is substantially late, NBN Co has had extensive senior staff turnover and the whole project is turning out to be massively more complex than anyone, except perhaps Telstra, could have anticipated back in April 2009. The Coalition has more than enough ammunition to criticise the project, and the fact that it brought out one of its most powerful guns to tackle it, former Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, has not helped Conroy?s ability to defend the project.

However, there is an important fact here worth acknowledging: Conroy?s April 2009 NBN policy has stood the test of time since it was introduced, and there is very little doubt that the bones of it ? very large bones indeed, century-influencing bones ? will eventually be delivered.

The policy remains overwhelmingly popular amongst the Australian electorate today, it enjoys the support of pretty much the entire telecommunications industry, it is slowly being delivered, and it truly is the envy of many telecommunications industry experts, politicians and most importantly, individual residents and businesses the world over. Out of all of the accomplishments and policies of the Rudd and Gillard administrations, it is very likely the NBN that has been the most visionary policy and the one most likely to impact on Australia?s future in the long-term.

The proof of this is the fact that the Coalition has been forced to largely support it. A close examination of the rival NBN policy launched by Turnbull in April shows that it shares most of its elements with Labor?s existing policy, differing largely only in that the Coalition wants to deliver the project faster, through using less fibre infrastructure and reusing more of Telstra?s network.

That a Labor Government has been able to drag a fiscally conservative Opposition to the table to invest tens of billions of dollars of public money in a project of this size is nothing short of astonishing. Largely, in 2013, we have bi-partisan support for the NBN, and that isn?t due to the quality of the political maneuvering around the project. It is due to the quality, the enduring sheer quality of the original, incredibly audacious vision which Conroy delivered in April 2009. As veteran telecommunications analyst Paul Budde wrote this morning:

?? the achievements of this Minister have been nothing less than remarkable ? as a result of his vision and hard work the country is now building a national broadband network, and with contracts in place for NBN connections for approximately half of the population, the future of the NBN is safe. The Coalition has also warmed to the plan and there is now bipartisan support for the NBN. This is an enormous achievement ? There won?t be many ministers who will have as great a legacy to look back on as Stephen Conroy.?

Much of this is due to another factor here which must be acknowledged, beyond Conroy?s original NBN vision: His sheer tenacity in driving the project. As Apple supremo Steve Jobs once famously said: ?Real artists ship? ? or in other words, vision is nice, but delivery is also important.

Those familiar with the NBN debate will know that the Coalition, conservative commentators and the majority of Australia?s mainstream media has done everything they possibly could to tear down this project. Ever since it was introduced four years ago, the NBN policy has suffered constant attacks on every front, from the integrity of its executives to its choice of technologies, from its relationships with its contractors to its reporting mechanisms, from its finances to its public relations approach. Every single piece of mud that exists in this universe has been flung at this project, with every ounce of might that powerful Australian politicians, commentators and mainstream media outlets could muster, even if flinging such mud has required outright lies being told in public.

Yet, unbelievably, the centre has held.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, along with a few key lieutenants such as NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley, have staunchly sat like the Spartans at Thermopylae, and defended their ground with the NBN every step of the way, refusing to yield before the massive tide of incredible lies, half-truths, slander and base accusations which have been flung their way. You all know what I?m talking about here. You?ve read daily about this stuff in the pages of Delimiter for the past three years now. The amount of mud which has been flung at the NBN has been incredible.

And yet, Conroy has not yielded. In fact, he has stood his ground so well that, like Apple legend Jobs, Conroy has succeeded in bending reality around himself through sheer bloody mindedness and guts, to the extent that the Opposition now largely accepts the superstructure of the NBN project and is vowing to ?complete? the project faster than Labor could, a statement unthinkable only a few years ago.

I do not exaggerate when I say that, even discounting all of his other important portfolio responsibilities in areas such as media reform, digital television switchover and Australia Post (you know, the reforms he slipped in along the way while he was reforming Australia?s entire telecommunications sector), Conroy has had one of the most difficult, intellectually demanding and controversial portfolios in the Federal Government over the past half-decade, and, unlike almost all of his Cabinet colleagues, the Senator is still standing, having survived both the Rudd and Gillard administrations.

If you attend Conroy?s press conferences, as I do, you will have noticed something growing in the Minister over the past several years. Conroy has become so inured to the ongoing slander being thrown at the NBN, so accustomed to dealing with ridiculous leading questions from media outlets such as The Australian and The Financial Review, so practiced at answering technically inept questions from journalists that know little about broadband, that it has become too easy for the Senator.

When I first interviewed Conroy before the 2007 Federal Election, he was the Shadow Minister, and barely understood the basics of Australia?s telecommunications industry structure, or how broadband worked. Today, the Senator is a master of the area, so much so that it has become second nature for Conroy to use facts to repudiate the ridiculous daily insinuations about the NBN that he faces. To his credit, Conroy has continually advanced his knowledge of the field over the years.

Conroy has always been arrogant; his pushy Senate performances long ago saw him labelled as a ?bulldog? in parliamentary circles, and I suspect few will forget his ?red underpants? gaffe. But the past few years of being locked in the crucible of the NBN debate have also imparted a degree of wisdom on the Senator. Like a master swordsman, there is now no thrust that Conroy?s can?t adeptly handle; no question that throws the Minister for a loop. I have never met a politician that knows as much about his (incredibly technical) portfolio or who had such a mastery of its details. And I will challenge Conroy?s successor (whoever that may be; there are no obvious candidates) to get to the same level.

However all of this has also taken its toll on Conroy; like all visionaries, the Senator has burnt himself up in keeping the NBN dream alive. He has put too much of himself into the flames of the NBN and has wearied of holding the torch for so long and against so much opposition. That?s why Conroy?s resignation this week comes as no real surprise; he has sacrificed himself for his dreams, and now needs to step back before awaiting the next challenge. Perhaps this was the only way for the NBN to have gotten off the ground in the first place; perhaps it needed a ?bulldog? of Conroy?s stubbornness to sacrifice all for the cause for that dream to come alive.

There are also other, smaller reasons for Australia?s technology community to remember the Senator fondly. Conroy was the first Communications Minister to acknowledge the efforts of online broadband communities such as Whirlpool, with the Senator repeatedly mentioning NBN threads on Whirlpool in parliament and in press conferences, as well as mentioning influential bloggers in the telecommunications field.

It?s been this level of attention to detail which has shown the Minister?s true commitment to the portfolio and his process of ?coming home? as Minister. It?s hard to believe that someone once denounced as the ?Internet Villain of the Year? now spends time trawling Whirlpool to stay up to date on the incredibly detailed nuances of the NBN debate. Yet it?s plainly true.

When much of the Australian public thinks about Stephen Conroy, they think about the politician who wanted to impose a draconian Internet censorship regime on Australia, and who contemptuously attacked those who fought against such an effort. Despite Conroy?s recent attempts to ensure transparency around government filtering (remember, it was Conroy who disclosed ASIC?s use of Section 313 powers to block websites, and Conroy who is trying to put transparency and accountability measures around that practice), I saw that level of vitriole arise again last night when Conroy?s resignation was announced; it?s still out there, and it will never go away.

However, when I think of Senator Conroy in 2013, I see the opposite: Conroy?s not the enemy of the Internet. He?s its main champion in Australia. Over the second half of his tenure as Communications Minister, the Senator went native and became one of our own: A self-professed geek; Australia?s most technically knowledgeable politician; a late night reader of Internet forums; a passionate visionary who burnt himself up in the flames of his idealism in his quest to bring universal high-speed broadband to all Australians.

Conroy is a warrior who fought, day by day, a hostile media, an ignorant Opposition happy to be loose with the facts to score cheap political points; a Communications Minister who so out-classed those who came before him that they can barely be counted in the same category. We might like them personally more, but even Conroy?s contemporaries in the technology portfolio ? Senators Kate Lundy and Scott Ludlam, and even Turnbull ? have not achieved anything in the portfolio on the scale that Conroy has.

Like him or hate him, you can?t deny Stephen Conroy?s massive impact, and you can?t deny he?s been the greatest Communications Minister Australia has ever seen, and perhaps the only politician who has ever proven worthy of the title. We may never see his like again, and right now, there is really nobody qualified to replace him. Vale, Minister. And thank you.

Image credit: Kim Davies, Creative Commons

Source: http://delimiter.com.au/2013/06/27/vale-stephen-conroy-australias-greatest-ever-communications-minister/

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৭ জুন, ২০১৩

Sea lampreys turning up the heat

June 27, 2013 ? Male sea lampreys may not be the best-looking creatures swimming in our lakes and streams, but they apparently have something going for them that the ladies may find irresistible.

Research by a team of Michigan State University scientists found that the males have a secondary sex characteristic that creates heat when they get near a female lamprey, something the females find hard to say no to.

The work of the team focused on a small bump located near the male's anterior dorsal fin. Close examination of this bump determined that it was full of fat cells, cells that are similar to ones found in mammals, animals that need to maintain their own body temperature.

By putting a probe into the bump, the researchers found that the temperature of the bump, also known as rope tissue, increased by 0.3 degrees Celsius when the male approached a female, sometimes even more, depending upon the female.

The role this "bump" played in spawning was not known until now. Scientists had thought it merely as ornamental or playing some other minor role.

"We thought it was just a structure that was used for some kind of mechanical stimulation that they needed to trigger the female to lay eggs," said Weiming Li, a professor of fisheries and wildlife and a team member.

Until now it was believed that males attracted females by releasing pheromones.

By attempting to better understand the reproductive biology of the sea lamprey, the researchers hope to find ways to reduce its numbers or eliminate it from the Great Lakes.

Sea lampreys are a very destructive invasive species. Resembling 18-inch eels, they can live in both salt and fresh water and likely found their way into the Great Lakes via shipping channels. They have no natural predators in the Great Lakes.

Parasitic lampreys attach themselves to other fish, such as salmon, trout and whitefish, and suck out the fish's body fluids. The lamprey's sucking disk and sharp teeth scar the host fish, killing many of them. Under some conditions, only one of seven fish attacked by a sea lamprey will survive.

A sea lamprey can kill 40 or more pounds of fish, and they've caused the extinction of three species of whitefish in the Great Lakes. The U.S. and Canadian governments together spend about $10 million to $15 million per year on lamprey control.

Also contributing to the work were the laboratories of Jongeun Choi, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Titus Brown, assistant professor in the Departments of Computer Science and Engineering and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.

This latest research is published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/bMnpF5onc8c/130627125325.htm

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Identify Where Your Leads Coming From Using Call Tracking Utility ...

At its basic definition, call tracking utility tells a business or organization which ad campaign or marketing method is very effective and which is not through tracking the number of the phone calls that are made from a specific ad campaign.

Many businesses and huge companies assume that their marketing campaigns and ads are working and that they generate leads randomly from one to another. So, they kept spending on the same campaigns that they once have had without minding the expenses. What they mistook a lot is that they do not know which ad generates leads.

Many advertisers failed to know if the potential customer is calling because they found a listing on Google, or through receiving a flier in the mail, or clicked through an online banner, or watched on TV or heard over the radio. If you are so keen enough, most of the business websites will add a special poll question at the bottom of their page to inquire about where do you find their article or website.

Call tracking allows businesses to know which form of advertising or campaigns that keep the phone ringing. This helps them stop wasting money on the ads that aren?t so effective and focus on a campaign that is more effective in driving buying customers instead.

call tracking

How Does this Work?

Okay, let?s start with the most basic example. Let?s say you own a medium sized business. You occasionally do direct mail ads, radio commercials, banner ads, you listed your business on an online directory and Google PPC campaign. The call tracking software will assign a unique phone number to each of the campaigns and then the database will show you which ad or phone number generates the phone call and which is not.

You no longer need a tracking code after the call is connected or a coupon to bring into the store. You will simply put a unique phone numbers on each of the marketing pieces and wait which is working.

Who Could Benefit from Call Tracking?

If you pay to advertise elsewhere, especially on more than one platform, you could benefit from using call tracking software. You could waste a lot of revenues allotted for marketing campaigns if you do not use call tracking to identify which platform serves the utmost purpose.

Other Uses of Call Tracking Utility

Aside from the above functions, call tracking software also offers several other tools like call recording, call tagging, lead scoring, and goals and alerts.

Call recording allows you to record every call that comes in through a tracking number. You can also use call recording to gather customer feedback, concerns, problems, track employees customer handling performance and held them accountable, improve sales skills, improve customer service and gather important marketing data.

Call tagging allows you to tag or label calls in accordance to their marketing lead quality. The example is when a customer is calling simply to check the price but is not interested in buying the product, you can tag the call as ?far away from sale? or ?cold lead.?

Lead scoring allows you to score the call on certain criteria you choose to measure the lead quality. For instance, you can use the lead scoring to measure whether or not the caller is going to buy the product within 30 days, or whether they don?t have the money to buy now, or whether they are just hunting around.

Goals and alerts allows you to set goals and alerts for campaign ROI. You can use this tool to set a goal to generate specific amount of income from specific advertising campaign or set a goal to close a number of deals from specific ad campaign. It will also alert you when the deadline of your goals is approaching via text message or email.

With these crucial tools, you will never waste another amount of penny paid on advertising that does not work.

About the author...

Steven Wright ? who has written 1 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Steven Wright is a Marketing Expert at Dial800. His task is to reach out prospective clients through online marketing, and promotes their company's online social presence. He is passionate about virtual phone business, call tracking and the wonders of inbound marketing. You can connect with Steven via Twitter at @Dial800.


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Source: http://www.shoemoney.com/2013/06/26/identify-where-your-leads-coming-from-using-call-tracking-utility

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This Simple Math Puzzle Will Melt Your Brain

Adding and subtracting ones sounds simple, right? Not according to the old Italian mathematician Grandi?who showed that a simple addition of 1s and -1s can give three different answers.

Wait, what? If that sounds like it makes no sense that's because... well, it doesn't really. But better let Dr James Grime explain it to you rather than me. Prepare to scratch your head. [YouTube]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-simple-math-puzzle-will-melt-your-brain-582979205

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The Culture Gabfest ?Steak All the Way Through? Edition

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 249 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and June Thomas with the audio player below.

Culturefest is on the radio! ?Gabfest Radio? combines Slate?s Culture and Political Gabfests in one show?listen on Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. on WNYC?s AM820.

On this week?s episode, our critics discuss the Paula Deen scandal and celebrity apologies in general. Do celebrities? apologies?or nonapologies?even begin to help them atone for awful behavior? Then the gabbers take a look at the new CBS series Under the Dome, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, in which a mysterious, impenetrable dome surrounds and holds captive an entire small town. Finally, the crew considers the decline of the humanities major: Why is it happening, does it matter, and what can be done about it?

Here are links to some of the things we discussed this week:

June: The ridiculously addictive smartphone game ?Candy Crush.?

Outro: Beach Fossils, ?Clash the Truth?

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Julia Furlan. Our intern is Sam McDougle.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/culturegabfest/2013/06/paula_deen_under_the_dome_and_the_decline_of_the_humanities_on_the_slate.html

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Heart failure survivors at greater risk for cancer, study shows

June 25, 2013 ? Heart failure patients are surviving more often with the heart condition but they are increasingly more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, a trend that could be attributed to increased surveillance, side effects of treatments, or other causes, according to a study published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"Heart failure patients are not only at an increased risk for developing cancer, but the occurrence of cancer increases mortality in these patients," explained Dr. Veronique Roger, MD, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery and co-author of the study. "These findings underscore the importance of cancer surveillance in the management of heart failure patients."

Researchers conducted the study using medical records from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, which links the inpatient and outpatient records from all providers used by the population of Olmsted County, Minn. The study included 596 patients with heart failure paired with the same number of similar healthy subjects.

The study looked at two 11-year time periods. Patients diagnosed with heart failure between 1979 and 1990 had a 48 percent increased risk of cancer, while patients diagnosed between 1991 and 2002 had an 86 percent increased risk. Roger and colleagues suggest several possible causes for the increased risk of cancer in heart failure patients, including side effects of cardiovascular treatments, or stress from illness or other mechanisms associated with the physiology of heart failure such as inflammation.

Investigators stress the importance of the findings in the treatment and management of heart failure, concluding patients should be monitored closely for signs of cancer.

"These findings also illustrate the importance of multi-morbidity among patients living with chronic diseases and support the concept of providing holistic rather than disease-based care," the authors said.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American College of Cardiology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/Cx2BMGgSxaM/130625162231.htm

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In multiple sclerosis animal study, absence of gene leads to earlier, more severe disease

June 24, 2013 ? Scientists led by a UCSF neurology researcher are reporting that they have identified the likely genetic mechanism that causes some patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) to quickly progress to a debilitating stage of the disease while other patients progress much more slowly.

The team found that the absence of the gene Tob1 in CD4+ T cells, a type of immune cell, was the key to early onset of more serious disease in an animal model of MS.

Senior author Sergio Baranzini, PhD, a UCSF associate professor of neurology, said the finding may ultimately lead to the development of a test that predicts the course of MS in individual patients. Such a test could help physicians tailor personalized treatments, he said.

The study, done in collaboration with UCSF neurology researchers Scott Zamvil, MD, and Jorge Oksenberg, PhD, was published on June 24, 2013 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

MS is an inflammatory disease in which the protective myelin sheathing that coats nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord is damaged and ultimately stripped away -- a process known as demyelination. During the highly variable course of the disease, a wide range of cognitive, debilitating and painful neurological symptoms can result.

In previously published work, Baranzini and his research team found that patients at an early stage of MS known as clinically isolated syndrome who expressed low amounts of Tob1 were more likely to exhibit further signs of disease activity -- a condition known as relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis -- earlier than those who expressed normal levels of the gene.

The current study, according to Baranzini, had two goals: to recapitulate in an animal model what the researchers had observed in humans, and uncover the potential mechanism by which it occurs.

The authors were successful on both counts. They found that when an MS-like disease was induced in mice genetically engineered to be deficient in Tob1, the mice had significantly earlier onset compared with wild-type mice, and developed a more aggressive form of the disease.

Subsequent experiments revealed the probable cause: the absence of Tob1 in just CD4+ T cells. The scientists demonstrated this by transferring T cells lacking the Tob1 gene into mice that had no immune systems but had normal Tob1 in all other cells. They found that the mice developed earlier and more severe disease than mice that had normal Tob1 expression in all cells including CD4+.

"This shows that Tob1 only needs to be absent in this one type of immune cell in order to reproduce our initial observations in mice lacking Tob1 in all of their cells," said Baranzini.

The researchers also found the likely mechanism of disease progression in the Tob1-deficient mice: higher levels of Th1 and Th17 cells, which cause an inflammatory response against myelin, and lower levels of Treg cells, which normally regulate inflammatory responses. The inflammation results in demyelination.

The research is significant for humans, said Baranzini, because the presence or absence of Tob1 in CD4+ cells could eventually serve as a prognostic biomarker that could help clinicians predict the course and severity of MS in individual patients. "This would be useful and important," he said, "because physicians could decide to switch or modify therapies if they know whether the patient is likely to have an aggressive course of disease, or a more benign course."

Ultimately, predicted Baranzini, "This may become an example of personalized medicine. When the patient comes to the clinic, we will be able to tailor the therapy based on what the tests tell us. We're now laying the groundwork for this to happen."

Co-authors of the study are Ulf Schulze-Topphoff, PhD, of UCSF; Simona Casazza, PhD, of UCSF at the time of the study; Michel Varrin-Doyer, PhD; and Kara Pekarek of UCSF; Raymond A. Sobel, MD, of Stanford University School of Medicine, and Stephen L. Hauser, MD, of UCSF.

The study was supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health (R01 grants NS26799, NS049477, AI073737, AI059709 and NS063008), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Robert Tillman Family Fund, the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation and the Maisin Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/b9pqL_poK-s/130624093411.htm

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Mandela still 'critical' in hospital: Zuma

After spending a few days roasting over an open fire, Paula Deen is cooked. She lost her job with the Food Network on Friday meaning that she is, for all intents and purposes, gone from our lives now. But an unusual voice spoke up in her defense last night: professional opinioner Bill Maher. Eater pointed us towards this video of Maher defending the former Food Network star on last night's?Real Time with Bill Maher. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mandela-still-critical-hospital-zuma-082333361.html

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Samsung Galaxy S 4 Developer Edition for Verizon now shipping for $650

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Developer Edition for Verizon now shipping for $650

Samsung's online listing for the Galaxy S 4 Developer Edition is back, and now you can actually follow through on a purchase. The device, currently available for Verizon customers, can be yours for the princely sum of $649.99. This isn't the Google Edition running stock Android that we first heard about at I/O; instead, the Developer Edition includes the TouchWiz UI and Android 4.2.2, but ships with an unlocked bootloader, letting you play around with custom ROMs and the like. Add it to your cart at the source link below.

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Via: TechnoBuffalo

Source: Samsung

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/U42ixYPCnpg/

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মঙ্গলবার, ১৮ জুন, ২০১৩

Netflix cuts original TV deal with DreamWorks

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Netflix's deal to air original television programming from Dreamworks Animation is a major coup for both companies.

Though financial details were not disclosed, Netflix Inc. says the multi-year agreement announced on Monday is its biggest deal ever for original first-run content. It includes more than 300 hours of new TV episodes in a multi-year deal starting in 2014.

The transaction helps Netflix compete with pay TV channels such as HBO and Showtime, and it gives Dreamworks a potentially lucrative outlet for its shows as it tries to shed its reliance on two or three big-budget movies each year.

Netflix Inc. doubled down on original children's programming, hoping to strengthen its push to become a family entertainment brand. The new content should ease some of the pain of losing a range of kids shows from Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon network, including future episodes of "Dora the Explorer," which Amazon.com Inc. snapped up for its streaming service in early June.

"This is arguably a groundbreaking deal," said Tuna Amobi, a Standard & Poor's equity analyst who covers both Netflix and DreamWorks Animation.

While concerns remain about how much the deal will cost Netflix in the end, the company said it is a global deal that will allow it to debut the original series in the 40 countries where Netflix operates. That could help spread the costs over more territories and more subscribers if Netflix continues to grow overseas.

"The big question is if this is going to be an international catalyst in terms of subscriber growth," Amobi said.

Investors hailed the deal as a win-win. Netflix shares rose $15.70, or 7.3 percent, to close at $229.69 on Monday, while DreamWorks shares rose 92 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $23.73.

The deal suggests DreamWorks will significantly ramp up its production of TV shows. Currently, it only produces "Dragons: Riders of Berk" for Cartoon Network, which completed a run of 20 episodes at 23 minutes each ? less than 8 hours of content in all ? in March.

A second season of "Dragons" is set for release in the fall, and Netflix had already contracted with DreamWorks for a series based on its upcoming film, "Turbo." But the deal suggests that several new series will have to debut each year to fulfill the industry standard deal length of five to seven years.

New series will be based on characters either from future film hits, past franchises like "Shrek," or even older hits, including the hundreds of characters like "Casper the Friendly Ghost," which DreamWorks acquired when it bought Classic Media last July for $155 million.

The new DreamWorks shows aren't likely to tread on ground already covered under its existing TV shows, according to DreamWorks spokeswoman Allison Rawlings.

DreamWorks already licenses characters from "Kung Fu Panda," ''Madagascar" and "Monsters vs. Aliens" to Viacom's Nickelodeon, which has been producing original animated TV shows based on those movies since 2008.

The multi-year agreement tops the undisclosed amount Netflix spent on "House of Cards," the political drama starring Kevin Spacey that debuted to rave reviews on Netflix in February.

Netflix has been adding original programming to its roster of older movies and TV show reruns, and is set to launch the Jenji Kohan-created "Orange Is the New Black" next month. The company has said that for the next several years, it will contain original content spending to within 10 percent of its $2 billion in annual content costs.

Netflix's increased focus on children's programming is seen as a departure from the tactics of traditional premium pay TV channels such as HBO, Starz and Showtime, whose original shows tend to be tailored to adults. It also ramps up the competition for children viewers with Amazon, which said last month it will produce three new original kids shows for members of its Amazon Prime subscription plan.

Netflix has said it has 29.2 million streaming video subscribers in the U.S. and 7.1 million internationally as of the end of March. Those figures are up 5.8 million and 4.1 million respectively from a year ago.

In December, Netflix announced it will offer Disney movies, starting with films released in 2016. It declined to make a similar deal for the rights to Sony movies starting in 2016, which was kept by Starz.

Investor reaction wasn't uniformly positive. Analyst Rich Tullo of brokerage Albert Fried & Co. said he doubts that DreamWorks has the capacity to produce more than one or two new series a year.

"It's physically impossible without this content being spread out over 10 years," he said.

Hit TV shows aren't guaranteed, and it's not clear that this will make up for Netflix's loss of Nickelodeon content, he said.

"Are they going to lose 2 million subscribers off losing Nickelodeon content? That's possible too," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netflix-cuts-original-tv-deal-dreamworks-210436517.html

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A$AP Rocky Wins Over Bonnaroo With His 'Purple Swag'

The 24-year-old Harlem MC deems his performance 'one of the best shows you're gonna see at this festival.'
By Mary J. DiMeglio

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709119/asap-rocky-bonnaroo-purple-swag.jhtml

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Simple and inexpensive process to make a material for carbon dioxide adsorption

June 17, 2013 ? Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), S. Korea, developed a novel, simple method to synthesize hierarchically nanoporous frameworks of nanocrystalline metal oxides such as magnesia and ceria by the thermal conversion of well-designed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

The novel material developed by the UNIST research team has exceptionally high CO2 adsorption capacity which could pave the way to save the Earth from CO2 pollution.

Nanoporous materials consist of organic or inorganic frameworks with a regular, porous structure. Because of their uniform pore sizes they have the property of letting only certain substances pass through, while blocking others. Nanoporous metal oxide materials are ubiquitous in materials science because of their numerous potential applications in various areas, including adsorption, catalysis, energy conversion and storage, optoelectronics, and drug delivery. While synthetic strategies for the preparation of siliceous nanoporous materials are well-established, non-siliceous metal oxide-based nanoporous materials still present challenges.

A description of the new research was published (Web) on May 7 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Leading the research team was married couple Hoi Ri Moon and Sang Hoon Joo, both assistant professors at UNIST, who contributed to synthesizing nanoporous metal oxides and characterizing nanoporous materials respectively. Fellow authors include Tae Kyung Kim, Kyung Joo Lee, Jae Yeong Cheon and Jae Hwa Lee from UNIST.

The UNIST research team used MOFs based on aliphatic carboxylate ligands which are thermally less stable and much more labile than aromatic ligands. Specifically, the aliphatic ligand is adipic acid, which is a precursor for the production of nylon, and thus very important from an industrial perspective and low in price. During the thermolysis of a crystalline, aliphatic carboxylate ligand-based MOF (aph-MOF), the ligands were transformed into organic moieties via chemical decomposition, and were confined as vesicles in the solids.

The organic vesicles acted as self-generated porogens, which later were converted into nanopores; they also prevented aggregation of the metal oxide nanocrystals. Finally, upon thermolysis at higher temperature, the confined organic moieties evaporated, generating highly porous nanostructures comprising nanocrystalline metal oxides. The control of the retention time and the evaporation rate of the organic moieties in the host solid were critical for the successful formation of nanoporous metal oxides with nanocrystalline frameworks. The thermal treatments converted the Mg-aph-MOF into 3-dimensionally nanoporous MgO frameworks instead of discrete MgO nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix. Significantly, nanoporous MgO exhibited exceptional CO2 adsorption capacity (9.2 wt %) under conditions mimicking flue gas.

"I believe MOF-driven strategy can be expanded to other nanoporous monometallic and multimetallic oxides with a multitude of potential applications, especially for energy-related materials" said Prof. Moon. "Because of its high CO2 adsorption capacity, it will open a new way for environmental solutions."

"Various metal oxides converted from well-designed MOFs are being studied as fuel cell catalysts, also" said Prof. Joo, explaining his future research plan.

This work was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/BSGumVACJq0/130617104616.htm

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Hong Kong rally backs Snowden, denounces allegations of U.S. spying

By Grace Li and Venus Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A few hundred rights advocates and political activists marched through Hong Kong on Saturday to demand protection for Edward Snowden, who leaked revelations of U.S. electronic surveillance and is now believed to be holed up in the former British colony.

Marchers gathered outside the U.S. consulate shouting slogans denouncing alleged spying operations aimed at China and Hong Kong, but the numbers were modest compared to rallies over other rights and political issues.

"Arrest Obama, free Snowden," protesters shouted outside the slate grey building as police looked on. Many waved banners that said: "Betray Snowden, betray freedom", "Big brother is watching you" and "Obama is checking your email".

Some blew whistles in support of Snowden, 29, the American former CIA contractor who has acknowledged being behind leaks of the surveillance programs by the National Security Agency.

The procession moved on to government headquarters in the city, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 but enjoys far more liberal laws on dissent and freedom of expression.

About a dozen groups organized two rallies, including the city's two largest political camps. Leaders of major political parties sought explanations for Snowden's allegations of spying.

Hong Kong's largest pro-Beijing political party, the DAB, demanded an apology from Washington, clarification of "illegal" espionage activities and an immediate halt to them.

"I think the Hong Kong government should protect him," the DAB's vice-chairwoman, Starry Lee, said outside the consulate.

Snowden reportedly flew to Hong Kong on May 20. He checked out of a luxury hotel on Monday and his whereabouts remain unknown. Snowden has said he intends to stay in Hong Kong to fight any potential U.S. moves to extradite him.

CHINA AVOIDS COMMENT ON CASE

China has avoided any explicit comment on its position towards Snowden. A senior source with ties to the Communist Party leadership said Beijing was reluctant to jeopardize recently improved ties with Washington.

Snowden told the South China Morning Post this week that Americans had spied extensively on targets including the Chinese University of Hong Kong that hosts an exchange which handles nearly all the city's domestic web traffic. Other alleged targets included government officials, businesses and students.

Snowden pledged not to "hide from justice" and said he would place his trust in Hong Kong's legal system. Some legal experts, however, say an extradition treaty between Hong Kong and the United States has functioned smoothly since 1998.

It is unclear whether Chinese authorities would intervene over any U.S. attempts to extradite Snowden, though lawyers say Beijing has rarely interfered with extradition cases.

His arrival comes at a sensitive time for Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, whose popularity has sunk since taking office last year amid a series of scandals and corruption probes into prominent figures. Leung has offered no comment on Snowden.

Interest among residents into the case is growing and numbers could rise if extradition proceedings are launched.

Demonstrations on issues ranging from denunciations of pro-communist education policy imposed by Beijing, high property prices and a growing wealth gap have attracted large crowds.

A vigil marking the anniversary of China's June 1989 crackdown on democracy advocates drew tens of thousands this month and a record 180,000 last year.

Diplomats and opposition figures in the city have warned of growing behind-the-scenes meddling by Beijing in Hong Kong's affairs, as well as deep-rooted spying activities.

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret and Anne-Marie Roantree; Writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-rally-backs-snowden-denounces-allegations-u-121300393.html

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Republicans criticize Obama on Syria (Washington Post)

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Draft NASA Funding Bill Cancels Asteroid Mission For Return To the Moon

Commercial R&D and exploration serves one purpose: to enrich the stockholders' portfolio. Yes, there's a trickle-down effect in that any technological or intellectual advances will become available to the public eventually, but at a cost whose primary concern is profit. That profit will be a margin applied to the research phase and the manufacture.

In other words, commercial R&D has to be useful. And the profit "cost" yields a strong incentive to insure that the R&D has positive return on investment. These are huge advantages over government R&D which neither has to be useful or provide more benefit than cost.

Public investment in R&D and exploration is to the direct benefit of the entire nation and its allies. Derivative products will eventually be sold for a profit but the profit margin will only be expected to cover the manufacture costs, not the research phase.

In other words, tremendous costs, paltry returns, and the real R&D gets disguised as "derivative products".

Ultimately we pay for everything we have, at the store or via taxes. The question is: do you want to pay profit mark-up on the research?

Of course. The real question is why do you think public research has any advantages at all? For example, when I pay at the

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/W2ROBMoa8_Y/story01.htm

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