Monday, October 28, 2013

Forget 64-bit for a moment, the new Exynos CPUs are rumored to use a 14nm process

Exynos

Great performance is a good thing, but less time on the power cord is a better thing

64-bit processing is nothing to sneeze at, but it's also nothing new. The first 3Com PDAs used 64-bit processors. Every Intel Atom processor is 64-bit. I think Casio built an old watch with a 64-bit processor in it as well. It means nothing by itself, and the reason Apple's new Samsung-built A7 performs so well is because it was designed to deliver a particular experience to particular software. There's more to it than the number of bits.

While we're not going to dismiss the benefits of moving hardware and operating systems to 64-bit support, there's something much more important said to be part of Samsung's new Exynos design — a 14nm process.

To put it in simple terms, this refers to the way the processor wafers are built, and it's a measurement of space between components. When you move down to 14nm (nanometers) you do a couple very important things. You decrease the cost, and up the power efficiency. Advanced discussion of FinFET, MOFSET and MuGFET advancements are best left to the forums if you're into that.

When you have a minute hour to spare, ask Phil how he loves his Haswell (22nm) laptop. The 22nm process gives it awesome battery life compared to previous versions. Intel loves to crow about the Haswell, with good reason. They also offer a great example of the benefit of a 14nm process, with tests of their upcoming Broadwell chips being 30 percent more power efficient under the same load

TSMC has released a roadmap showing they are on-board, but Samsung can meet the demand. If these rumors turn out to be true, and Samsung delivers a 64-bit, HMP-ready 14nm Exynos processor, we may get the performance to power ratio we've been waiting for in our mobile devices. 


    






Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/IUdXDFLPM-Y/story01.htm
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Book News: Arizona Lifts Ban on 7 Mexican-American Studies Books


The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.


  • The Tucson Unified School District is reinstating seven books banned after a Mexican-American Studies program was outlawed in Arizona. In 2010, a judge ruled that the program was illegal under a law banning classes that "promote resentment toward a race or class of people." The books include Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales, Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado and 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez. The Arizona Daily Star reports that the governing board voted 3-2 to reinstate the books as "supplementary materials." Meanwhile, Arizona's Department of Education responded in a statement to News 4 Tucson: "Given the prior misuse of the approved texts in TUSD classrooms, the Arizona Department of Education is concerned whether the governing board's actions indicate an attempt to return to practices found to have violated Arizona's statutes in 2011."

  • Iranian Culture Minister Ali Jannati said this week that Iran may reconsider its restrictions on certain books that have been banned by censors, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Jannati was quoted as saying: "Those books subjected to censorship or denied permission to be published in the past will be reviewed again." He told the Iranian daily Ahram that "I think if the Koran was not a divine revelation, when it was handed to the book supervisory board, they would say some words did not comply with public chastity and would deny it permission for publication."

  • Jonathan Franzen speaks to Manjula Martin about writing, social media and making money during an interview in the brand new magazine Scratch: "I think the literary novelist who makes money is like a fish in a tweed suit. Flannery O'Connor talks about the fiction writer's concern being 'a poverty fundamental to mankind.' You lose touch with that impoverishment at your own risk."

  • Earlier this week, writer Gregg Barrios complained in a Texas Observer op-ed that in an act of "egregious marginalization," the Texas Book Festival "features only 15 Latina and Latino writers out of 230 invited writers." In another op-ed, the festival's literary director, Steph Opitz, agreed with Barrios, writing, "I, too, am disappointed that there is not more diversity in this year's line-up" and asking to meet with him to hear his suggestions for next year.

  • J.J. Abrams named his favorite writers in a New York Times interview: "Mark Twain for his amazing use of language and humor, and H. G. Wells for his wild, prescient imagination. I want to say Salinger, too, but all this is making me sound like I'm still in junior high. I have a great affection for the writing of Graham Greene and am amazed by the soul and poetry of Colum McCann. And I can't tell which is more incredible: how Stephen King can grab you by the throat in whatever damn genre he's writing in, or that as soon as you've finished his latest novel, he's published another one. His skill and prolificacy is otherworldly. Like, maybe literally."

  • The New York Times has begun a series of profiles of small poetry presses. Why? Because it says that "many smart people say they're panic-stricken by poetry, as if it were an iambic migraine to be ducked. One purpose of these occasional profiles in poetry is to educate readers who might be tempted by the art, but who aren't sure where to start. We mean to gradually create a guide to the vast archipelago of independent-press poetry publishing." In this installment, Michael Wiegers of Copper Canyon Press explains what he look for in a manuscript: "I look for the intentional, the weird and the unexpected that makes a voice singular."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/25/240704193/book-news-arizona-lifts-ban-on-7-mexican-american-studies-books?ft=1&f=1032
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Nielsen's New SDK Adds Mobile Viewing To Its Traditional TV Ratings, Uses Data From Facebook To Match Demographics


After months of trials, Nielsen today is announcing an SDK that will give it the ability to measure how people view TV on mobile apps and other digital formats — data that Nielsen plans to use alongside its core business measuring traditional TV viewing, an essential component for how broadcasters ultimately sell ads against that content.


By doing this, Nielsen is looking for a way to track consumers who now watch TV on “new screens” like tablets and smartphones — still a small number compared to overall TV viewing, but growing by the day, and therefore representing an increasingly interesting audience for businesses that buy TV advertising. Nielsen says the SDK, which will be available to Nielsen clients, will be out by mid-November.


While Nielsen traditionally works with broadcasters and their partners to measure TV consumption, launching this SDK also opens up the company to working with other companies that are digital-only but are also playing a part in how people are consuming TV content today. They include Aero, Netflix, YouTube and more.


Nielsen’s SDK has been on the cards for some time already. In June of this year, Nielsen completed a trial that measured CBS streams that played over the Syncbak app (CBS is a strategic investor in Syncbak). This also used Nielsen’s SDK. Then, at the beginning of October, reports emerged noting an announcement of Nielsen’s mobile streaming measurement service was imminent, but without many details of how it would work.


While Nielsen’s traditional business has relied on meters in homes to measure audio codes in TV shows, that hardware doesn’t monitor devices like computers, tablets and smartphones. Nielsen says that the SDK approach tracks usage with audio watermarks as well as tags and other metadata on the TV shows and their ads. (It’s technology that Nielsen says is patent-pending.)


To figure out who is watching those streams and where, Nielsen says it will use “big data and a census-style measurement approach.” This will involve matching information from services like Facebook — presumably based on your login credentials for those TV apps — and combining this with its existing National People Meter panel.


It’s not clear if Nielsen is paying Facebook a fee to use its data or whether it will in exchange be providing Facebook with data in return that it can use to improve its own ad sales. (We’ve asked, and we’re also trying to find out who, besides Facebook, may be providing data.) Much like Nielsen’s social TV measurement partner Twitter, Facebook wants to make a big play for video and TV-related advertising, and it has been reportedly courting broadcasters with its own data about how TV gets discussed, liked and linked on its social network.


The key with the new SDK is it gives Nielsen a way of measuring consumption that will augment its data on traditional TV viewing, but it will also be able to pick up data about other online video viewing that doesn’t fall into the traditional TV category. If a broadcaster makes a TV show available for viewing on a digital device “and it meets the ad load and timeline requirements for TV ratings,” Nielsen notes, then views of that content will get counted towards overall Nielsen TV ratings.


On the other hand, content not eligible for TV ratings — “due to elapsed crediting time, dynamic ad insertion or because it originated from the Web itself” — then gets included in Nielsen Digital Ratings, i.e. Nielsen Digital Program Ratings for content ratings and Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings for the ad rating.


“We’ve been working hard to deliver this new SDK and are excited to be able to deliver a single client solution that supports both the linear (TV style) and dynamic (Internet style) ad models,” noted Megan Clarken, EVP, Global Product Leader, Nielsen, in a statement. “This unified encoding approach for video enables measurement to follow content across screens and ad models.”


Traditional TV still accounts for the majority of ad spend — just under 58% of all ad spend worldwide in Q2 went to TV advertising, according to figures from Nielsen earlier this month.


But as penetration of tablets and smartphones continues to grow, users are increasingly using those screens for their TV fix. Research from Ooyala notes that about 13% of all digital video plays now come from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, growing by 41% in the first half of this year.


In other words, while Nielsen’s traditional TV measurement business is probably still robust, a large part of that may have had to do with the fact that it can be measured better. Now that it’s introducing new ways of measuring apps and other online formats, it will be worth watching to see how and if ad spend shifts more as a result.


Below, a diagram of how Nielsen sees its new TV ratings system working:


7110_Mobile_Measurement_Wire_Post_Graphic_D21



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6ScB0LTprkM/
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Arcade Fire On Its Brand New Beat




Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.



 






Arcade Fire's new album, Reflektor, comes out Tuesday.



JF Lalonde/Courtesy of the artist


Arcade Fire's new album, Reflektor, comes out Tuesday.


JF Lalonde/Courtesy of the artist


Fans of Arcade Fire might be feeling a bit of culture shock. The group has been called the world's most successful indie rock band — but its new album, Reflektor, explores the Haitian roots of band member Regine Chassagne.



She and her husband, frontman Win Butler, have worked with Haitian relief groups for years; the band has donated more than a million dollars to charities there. Speaking with NPR's David Greene, Chassagne and Butler say the seeds of the idea for Reflektor were planted on a trip they took to Haiti right after winning the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year, in a total upset.


"And then there's people coming from the mountains to watch us play who've never heard The Beatles before," Butler says of the scene when the band arrived. "You realize, stripped of that context, what you're left with is rhythm and emotion and melody; it kind of gets back to these really of basic building blocks of music. So we kind of wanted to start from there and try and make something out of it."



Reflektor isn't a dance record through and through, but it does incorporate many specific dance rhythms — "Here Comes the Night Time," for example, evokes the Hatian street music known as rara in its faster moments. The title of that song, Butler says, refers to an uncanny sight that can often be seen at dusk on the streets of Port-au-Prince, large parts of which have no electricity.


"Everyone's kind of really hustling to get home because it can be kind of dangerous in a lot of neighborhoods; you have to get home before nightfall. And people have their bags of groceries and they're sprinting in the streets trying to get home," he says. "And then you see, like, three dudes in really sharp suits that are just stepping out to go out to a nightclub or something like that. You kind of have this duality where it's this really exciting atmosphere, but then also really dangerous at the same time.


Chassagne says that though the new album's themes are deeply meaningful to her, she hopes the band has created something that can be appreciated anywhere.


"I'm kind of stuck a little bit in both worlds, so I would like to make something that, basically, my mom could dance. She wouldn't dance to a New Order song, but she would dance to the Haitian beat," Chassagne says. "I want to kind of do something that everybody can lock into."


Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/28/240760218/arcade-fire-on-its-brand-new-beat?ft=1&f=10001
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Livescribe 3 smartpen digitizes notes straight to your iPad, starts at $150

Livescribe broke new ground last year with the Sky WiFi pen that could transfer handwritten and audio notes straight to the cloud (well, to your Evernote account anyway), so that they'd be accessible anywhere there's an internet connection. Having to jump on WiFi to send and retrieve those notes ...


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/PpKezNhosPw/
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From metal to machine: See how the iconic Mac Pro is made


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Gartner's recent magic quadrant for IT Service Support Management included no vendors as leaders or innovators. Learn why and how ITinvolve is delivering an innovative service desk solution that empowers IT staff through social collaboration and visualization to improve incident analysis and triage to speed incident resolution time.


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Kim Kardashian Says She Was "Shaking the Entire Time" During Kanye West's Proposal


In absolute heaven! Kim Kardashian is still on a high following Kanye West's epic proposal earlier this week, and topped off her 33rd birthday celebrations by partying in Las Vegas on Friday, Oct. 25. There with family, friends and her new fiance, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star dished about baby North and how the proposal (heard around the world!) made her feel. 


PHOTOS: Kim and Kanye -- the perfect match


"I was shaking the entire time," the first-time mom admitted to Us Weekly at her party at Tao Nightclub. "It was like an out of body experience." 


On Monday, Oct. 21, the Yeezus rapper shocked Kardashian when he got down on bended knee at the AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif., with a massive diamond ring designed by Lorraine Schwartz. "I think it's pretty gorgeous," she said of her new bling.


PHOTOS: Kim's pregnant bikini body


"Complete surprise. I truly had no idea," she gushed to Us about the proposal. "I don't think anyone there though -- they thought it was a surprise birthday party. Even everyone -- my sisters -- it was such a surprise." She added: "I'm marrying my best friend." 


Kardashian and West, 36, have had a busy week since the "Blood On the Leaves" singer popped the question. On Thursday, the pair made their first appearance together since the engagement at Wolfgang Puck's charity Dream for Future Africa Foundation honoring Vogue Italia Editor-In-Chief Franca Sozzani in Beverly Hills.


PHOTOS: Kim's baby bump style


"We honestly haven't even had a moment to talk about it or even breathe," Kardashian admitted. But as for wedding plans? "Whatever he wants," she insisted. The blushing bride-to-be also confirmed that Bruce Jenner will be walking her down the aisle. (Us exclusively broke news earlier this month that Bruce and Kris Jenner decided to separate after 22 years of marriage, without any immediate decision to divorce.)


The newly engaged couple first began dating in April 2012 and welcomed daughter North on June 15 of this year. "It's amazing," the reality star told Us of motherhood. "Everything they tell you about motherhood and what it's like to have kids is everything and more. It's the best job I've ever had and the most rewarding experience of my life."


Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/kim-kardashian-says-she-was-shaking-the-entire-time-during-kanye-wests-proposal-20132610
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Can the 'right' helmet prevent concussions?

Can the 'right' helmet prevent concussions?


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28-Oct-2013



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American Academy of Pediatrics



Study finds no difference in concussion risk among high school football players using different brands and ages of helmets; custom mouth guards do not reduce risk



ORLANDO, Fla. While many football helmet and mouth guard manufacturers claim that their equipment will lessen impact forces and reduce concussion risk, neither a specific brand nor a higher cost were associated with fewer concussions in adolescent athletes, according to an abstract presented Monday, Oct. 28 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando.

"Our preliminary findings suggest that neither any specific brand of football helmet nor custom mouth guards result in fewer concussions in kids who use them," said lead co-investigator Margaret Alison Brooks, MD, MPH, FAAP. "Despite what manufacturers might claim, newer and more expensive equipment may not reduce concussion risk. So is it worth the significant extra cost to families and schools?"


Each year, approximately 40,000 sport related concussions (SRC) occur in U.S. high schools. In the abstract, "Association of Helmet Brand and Mouth Guard Type with Incidence of Sport Related Concussion in High School Football Players," researchers tested various mouth guard brands, including custom-fit mouth guards, and new and older football helmets.


The study involved 1,332 football players at 36 high schools during the 2012 football season. Players completed a pre-season demographic and injury questionnaire, and athletic trainers recorded incidence and severity of SRC throughout the year.


Helmets worn by players were manufactured by Riddell (52 percent), Schutt (35 percent) and Xenith (13 percent). The helmets were purchased in 2011-2012 (39 percent), 2009-2010 (33 percent) and 2002-2008 (28 percent). Mouth guards worn by players included generic models provided by schools (61 percent) and specialized mouth guards (39 percent) custom fitted by dental professionals or specifically marketed to reduce SRC.


A total of 115 players (8.5 percent) sustained 116 SRCs in 2012. There was no difference in SRC rate based on the type of helmet worn, or the year the helmet was purchased. Concussion severity (based on the number of days lost from play) was no different for players wearing Riddell, Schutt or Xenith helmets. The SRC rate for players who wore a specialized or custom-fitted mouth guard was higher than for players who wore a generic mouth guards.


Properly maintained and fitted helmets remain important to prevent skull fractures and scalp lacerations in football players, said Dr. Brooks. However, "because the brain is floating freely inside the skull, I think most experts doubt whether it is possible to ever develop a helmet design that can prevent concussion."

###

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit http://www.aap.org.




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Can the 'right' helmet prevent concussions?


[ Back to EurekAlert! ]

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Oct-2013



[


| E-mail

]


Share Share

Contact: Debbie Jacobson
djacobson@aap.org
847-434-7084
American Academy of Pediatrics



Study finds no difference in concussion risk among high school football players using different brands and ages of helmets; custom mouth guards do not reduce risk



ORLANDO, Fla. While many football helmet and mouth guard manufacturers claim that their equipment will lessen impact forces and reduce concussion risk, neither a specific brand nor a higher cost were associated with fewer concussions in adolescent athletes, according to an abstract presented Monday, Oct. 28 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando.

"Our preliminary findings suggest that neither any specific brand of football helmet nor custom mouth guards result in fewer concussions in kids who use them," said lead co-investigator Margaret Alison Brooks, MD, MPH, FAAP. "Despite what manufacturers might claim, newer and more expensive equipment may not reduce concussion risk. So is it worth the significant extra cost to families and schools?"


Each year, approximately 40,000 sport related concussions (SRC) occur in U.S. high schools. In the abstract, "Association of Helmet Brand and Mouth Guard Type with Incidence of Sport Related Concussion in High School Football Players," researchers tested various mouth guard brands, including custom-fit mouth guards, and new and older football helmets.


The study involved 1,332 football players at 36 high schools during the 2012 football season. Players completed a pre-season demographic and injury questionnaire, and athletic trainers recorded incidence and severity of SRC throughout the year.


Helmets worn by players were manufactured by Riddell (52 percent), Schutt (35 percent) and Xenith (13 percent). The helmets were purchased in 2011-2012 (39 percent), 2009-2010 (33 percent) and 2002-2008 (28 percent). Mouth guards worn by players included generic models provided by schools (61 percent) and specialized mouth guards (39 percent) custom fitted by dental professionals or specifically marketed to reduce SRC.


A total of 115 players (8.5 percent) sustained 116 SRCs in 2012. There was no difference in SRC rate based on the type of helmet worn, or the year the helmet was purchased. Concussion severity (based on the number of days lost from play) was no different for players wearing Riddell, Schutt or Xenith helmets. The SRC rate for players who wore a specialized or custom-fitted mouth guard was higher than for players who wore a generic mouth guards.


Properly maintained and fitted helmets remain important to prevent skull fractures and scalp lacerations in football players, said Dr. Brooks. However, "because the brain is floating freely inside the skull, I think most experts doubt whether it is possible to ever develop a helmet design that can prevent concussion."

###

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit http://www.aap.org.




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




Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/aaop-ct101713.php
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Qualcomm: Nokia Lumia 2520 “Bigger, Faster, Lower Power” Than Microsoft's Surface 2


If you, like me, took some offline time this weekend, we’re a bit late to the latest slap fight in the world of Windows RT. Until recently, there was only one functional player in the Windows RT space – Microsoft, and its Surface 2 tablet – but Nokia has stepped into the ring, and one of its suppliers is talking a little trash.


No shame in that, of course, bragging is as old as language, but how Qualcomm – the supplier of the Nokia Lumia 2520 Windows RT tablet’s processor – is taking the Surface 2 to task is interesting.


Both the Nokia 2520 and the Surface 2 run Windows RT, so when it comes to software, they are on parity. Certainly, you could argue that the Surface 2 might behave better with Windows RT than rival devices, given that Microsoft builds both, but that’s edge work.


Qualcomm, as quoted by CNet, thinks that the Lumia 2520  is “bigger, faster, [and] lower power” than Microsoft’s rival Surface 2 tablet. Ok.


The kicker to this is that, for the Surface line of tablet hybrids, the hardware component of the devices has largely not been the point of complaint raised by reviewers and users. Instead, it’s been the software that the Surface devices run on – Windows 8 at first, and now Windows 8. 1- that was the sticking point. Windows 8 was not ready at launch. And Windows 8.1 has yet to be tested against consumer demand.


Why Qualcomm is trumpeting the “speeds and feeds” of the Lumia 2520 is simple: It provides the silicon that powers the device. Microsoft’s Surface 2 runs on Nvidia chips.


Keep in mind, however, that Microsoft is in the process of buying the Nokia assets that built the Lumia 2520, so we could see reconciliation. For now, however, Nokia’s tablet does directly challenge its future brother. Microsoft recently reported that Surface unit volume doubled in its most recent quarter, compared with the sequentially preceding quarter. Surface revenue totaled $400 million for that period.


Here’s the question: Will the Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 markets become akin to the Android realm, where OEMs race to best the hardware specifications of their rivals in their devices?



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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Switched On: ­­­Behind enemy lines


Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. This week marks the ninth anniversary of the column.


DNP Switched On Behind enemy lines


A decade ago this month, and a year before the debut of Switched On, Apple made the decision to release iTunes for Windows following what was reportedly a profanity-laced debate among Apple's executive team. The decision cemented the iPod's place as the best-selling portable media player and started the company's string of successes beyond the PC.


Most of the time, the various major ecosystem vendors work on improving their own products and helping their closest partners. However, sometimes companies see an opportunity to plant seeds in the gardens of their competitors for a variety of reasons. For example, Google Maps for iOS became a priority after Google was booted as Apple's default maps provider. Microsoft's SmartGlass, which runs on iOS and Android devices, allows the Xbox more flexibility in creating a second-screen experience, while the Wii U bears the expense of a tablet in every box. Apple's Boot Camp seemed like a value-add that required nominal effort once the company switched the Mac to Intel processors.


But two recent moves -- or at least reports of them -- by Google and Microsoft would have the two rivals transplanting their hearts right into the chests of competitors, presumably to have them burst through the host like a creature from Alien.


"Chrome OS" in Windows 8


Chrome and its namesake OS have been gaining market share, in part because of the low price of Chromebooks. And while its move to Android and iOS has shored up Chrome's numbers, the desktop is still important. Browser vendors haven't rushed to embrace Microsoft's "Modern" touch interface, but an experimental version of Chrome would create a Chrome OS-like user interface as a full-screen app in Windows if Chrome were the default browser.



On one hand, just about any Modern app is good news for Microsoft these days.



On one hand, just about any Modern app is good news for Microsoft these days. However, the design of Chrome OS is about as much of a true Modern app as Office is these days. And ultimately, the progress of Chrome, with its focus on HTML-based apps that look and act virtually the same everywhere, further compromises the differentiation that all OS vendors are seeking to achieve.


Windows Phone on Android


Unlike the implementation of the Chrome OS interface as a Modern Windows 8 app, Microsoft is apparently talking to hardware partners about putting the full Windows Phone operating system in Android devices. This might involve using the same phone hardware for both operating systems or actually dual-booting the same phone with Android and Windows Phone.


The former option would represent a bit of a throwback as many of the first Windows Phones had guts largely repurposed from Android devices -- but not from state-of-the-art ones. Now, though, Windows Phone supports a broader array of components as well as larger screens and faster processors, which might make parity easier. Besides, with Microsoft's imminent move to produce its own hardware, and with overwhelming market share in the Windows Phone category, it may care less about differentiation from third parties.



The dual-boot scenario is harder to picture.



The dual-boot scenario is harder to picture. Dual-boot options require a restart by definition. And while phone boot-up times can be faster than those of a PC, that kind of switching isn't very convenient on the go. Some have criticized the amount of extra space that two operating systems might take up on a phone with limited resources. If Microsoft really wants to reach out to Android users, another option could be offering support for Android apps riding on top of its operating system, similar to what BlueStacks has done. However, as we've seen from BlackBerry, adopting Android compatibility can be a double-edged sword that lowers the incentive to produce native apps.


When one is behind enemy lines, there's a greater risk of being captured.


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/27/behind-enemy-lines/?ncid=rss_truncated
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Have You Ever Gotten Sick from Using a Gadget?

Have You Ever Gotten Sick from Using a Gadget?

There are lots of diseases and health issues for humans to worry about in general, and yet we tend to create more of them as time goes on. Lead poisoning, cancer from tanning beds, lots of stuff from smoking. And now that we're addicted to gadgets it was only a matter of time before the health effects starting showing.

Read more...


    






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PM ally hails win in Georgia presidential poll as rival concedes


Tbilisi (AFP) - An ally of billionaire Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili claimed a crushing first-round victory in a presidential vote Sunday after his main opponent conceded defeat and exit polls pointed to an overwhelming win.

Giorgi Margvelashvili, a little-known academic from the premier's Georgian Dream coalition, took at least 66 percent of the vote in two television exit polls, well ahead of former parliament speaker David Bakradze of outgoing President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement party, in second place with around 20 percent in the ex-Soviet state.

"I thank you all so much. It is our shared victory," Margvelashvili told cheering supporters at a rally in Tbilisi.

Basking in the win for his coalition, tycoon Ivanishvili said at the rally he had been certain of victory.

"All together we will build a Georgia which we dream about. I congratulate you all," Ivanishvili said.

Fireworks lit up the evening sky in the capital shortly after polls closed in the Caucasus republic of some 4.5 million, as Margvelashvili's supporters honked car horns and cheered.

Runner-up Bakradze quickly conceded defeat, saying he accepted the result of the exit polls.

"I congratulate Giorgi Margvelashvili on his electoral win and the trust expressed in him by the Georgian people," Bakradze said in televised comments.

He said the vote confirmed Saakashvili's UNM party as the main opposition in the country, with exit polls giving combative ex-parliament chairwoman Nino Burjanadze under 10 percent in third place.

Sunday's vote calls time on US-ally Saakashvili's decade in power and his fractious year-long cohabitation with arch-enemy Ivanishvili, who has promised to also step down in the coming weeks.

In a televised address shortly after exit polls came out, Saakashvili urged his supporters to respect the vote outcome even though he called it a "serious deviation" from Georgia's path towards development.

"The Georgian voters have expressed their will. I want to tell those who are not happy with the results: we must respect the majority's opinion," Saakashvili said, standing on a podium lined with Georgian flags.

"Those who do not like these results -– and whose feelings I very well understand –- do not lose your hearts."

If confirmed, Margvelashvili will assume a weakened role as constitutional changes will see the next president cede many key powers to the prime minister.

The lower stakes meant that voting was slow throughout the day and the final turnout was just 46.6 percent, according to the election commission.

Ivanishvili, 57, wrested power from Saakashvili's party in parliamentary polls last year, marking Georgia's first orderly transition of power.

Earlier in the day voters had said they saw Margvelashvili as a clean break from Saakashvili.

At a polling station in central Tbilisi, professor Serge Tsutskiridze said he had picked "reserved" Margvelashvili because he wanted to see a new style of leader after Saakashvili's divisive rule.

"We don't need another emotional and headstrong president," said the 67-year-old.

'Open and transparent vote'

US ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland said the vote seemed to be going smoothly as he toured polling stations earlier Sunday.

"What's important is that this vote proceeds today in a way that's peaceful, fair, open and transparent and, so far, things seem to be moving in that direction."

Transparency International said the vote was "calm" but that the number of procedural violations was up on last year's vote.

Georgia under Saakashvili made joining NATO and the European Union a main priority, and Margvelashvili has pledged to press on with that drive.

He has also promised to try to mend ties with Moscow shattered by a brief 2008 war that saw Georgia effectively lose two breakaway regions.

Ivanishvili's coalition will retain control of the government but the tycoon has promised to name a successor and step down, claiming he has achieved his goals.

Western allies have expressed concern over perceived selective justice that has seen a string of Saakashvili's close allies arrested since his party lost power.

Saakashvili has said he wants to remain active in politics but Ivanishvili has labelled him a "political corpse" and warned he could face prosecution.

During a turbulent decade, Saakashvili -- who came to power after ousting Eduard Shevardnadze in the 2003 "Rose Revolution" -- cut corruption, built new infrastructure and revived Georgia's economy.

But his reforms angered many and police brutality used in crushing opposition protests tarnished his image as a pioneering democrat.

Official results are expected to be released overnight.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/georgia-set-elect-president-watershed-poll-021712281.html
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German government raises 2014 growth outlook


BERLIN (AP) — The German government is raising its forecast for the country's economic growth in 2014 to 1.7 percent and says there should be a healthy increase in exports.

Wednesday's forecast was just above the 1.6 percent growth that the government predicted in April. It left this year's growth outlook unchanged at 0.5 percent.

It's predicting a pickup in exports, a traditional strength of Europe's biggest economy, after they increased only sluggishly this year. The forecast is for exports to grow 0.3 percent in 2013 and 3.8 percent next year.

Faster economic growth should boost the already-healthy labor market. The government says the number of people in work should increase next year to 42 million from 41.8 million this year, with some 2.9 million unemployed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/german-government-raises-2014-growth-outlook-100815464--finance.html
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In The Long Run, Rebuilding Coastlines Could Prove Too Costly





The Long Beach High School marching band prepares to march down the Long Beach boardwalk during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.



Andrew Burton/Getty Images


The Long Beach High School marching band prepares to march down the Long Beach boardwalk during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.


Andrew Burton/Getty Images


One year ago Tuesday, Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast, devastating shoreline communities from Florida to Maine.


Many of these areas have been rebuilt, including the Long Beach boardwalk, about 30 miles outside New York City. Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new boardwalk Friday.


Ninety percent of the funding for the restoration came from the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid $44 million to repair the devastation.


Jack and Roseanne Vanderbeck love the new boardwalk. They come every weekend to power walk along the beach.


"I missed it last winter," says Jack Vanderbeck. "The old boardwalk actually was getting beat up a lot. This is much easier to walk on. People now don't get splinters."


"It's really beautiful," his wife adds. "They really did a great job."





Geologist Rob Young knows that it will be difficult to convince locals that rebuilding the coastlines might not be worth the cost.



Andrew Burton/Getty Images


Geologist Rob Young knows that it will be difficult to convince locals that rebuilding the coastlines might not be worth the cost.


Andrew Burton/Getty Images


But should the federal government pay for shore restorations, when the beaches are sure to be hit and damaged by future storms?


Rob Young, who directs the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, is one of many geologists who say taxpayers are shelling out too much cash to rebuild coastal areas that will continue to be ravaged by the effects of climate change.


"After storms, the federal government creates this moral hazard, in my opinion," Young says. "We spend billions of dollars rebuilding coastal communities, a lot of it in place."


The argument for the spending is that the coastal economy is worth the money. But Young asks, "If the coastal economy is that strong and vibrant, why can't they pay for the risk of being here themselves?"


Stay Put Or Retreat?


Young suggests that some coastal areas should be abandoned altogether because climate change is eating away at the nation's shorelines.


"The primary response post-Sandy has been to elevate some homes and elevate some infrastructure," he says. "So it's like you're standing in the river and the flood is coming, and instead of getting out of the river, you just roll up your pant legs, or hike up your skirt."


Besides Long Beach, other parts of the New York area were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, including lower Manhattan. Damages, including lost economic activity, were estimated at close to $20 billion.


Mayor Michael Bloomberg set up a task force to look at how the city could better protect itself from a rising sea level and increasing storm events linked to climate change. Seth Pinsky, who ran that task force and is now executive vice president of RXR Realty, agrees that certain parts of Manhattan are vulnerable during storms.


But Pinsky says retreating is not an option.

"We're dealing with 400 years of settlement here in New York City," he says. "In New York today, we have 70,000 buildings — representing over 500 million square feet of built area — that are in our 100-year flood plain. The idea that we're going to be able relocate those people, their jobs, their homes, that built infrastructure in any foreseeable future is just not realistic."


An Expensive Precedent


People like Charlie Minch love the beach and the new boardwalk. He drives here a couple times a week with his sister, Carol Halmy.


"It's nice," Minch says. "The boardwalk itself is nice. And it gives me something to do."


His sister says it's "certainly worth the money they put into it."


But geologist Rob Young says that sooner or later the money it takes to rebuild coastal areas — storm after storm — isn't going to be worth it anymore. Making that case to the people who live here, though, will be difficult.


"Any discussion of changing the way we do business at the coast and potentially not rebuilding some areas makes local residents nervous," Young says. "The issue is how long into the future can we afford as a nation to hold every shoreline — on East Coast to the Gulf Coast and the West Coast — in place."


Last week, the Department of the Interior released $162 million for research and restoration to protect the Atlantic Coast. The money will go to 45 projects, from Maine to North Carolina. Such funding sets an expensive precedent, Young says.


"If we have a big storm that hits Florida now, they are going to expect the same," he says. "They are going to expect the federal government to come in and rebuild beaches from Miami to Jacksonville. Can we afford to do that?"


Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/27/241111392/in-the-long-run-rebuilding-coastlines-could-prove-too-costly?ft=1&f=1001
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There Are Actually Lots of Ways to Time Travel

Okay so yeah, we can't actually do all of this time traveling in practice, but there's a lot of jumping around that physicist know would work in theory. And if they could just figure out how to create negative energy, also known as exotic matter for some reason, we could build spinning cylinders and wormholes to our collective heart's content. And as Minute Physics points out, don't forget the type of time travel we all do constantly. It's quotidian enough to be kind of annoying, but it's actually kind of great to remember that we're all moving through space-time all the . . . time.

Read more...


    






Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Av3dPSh48Ts/there-are-actually-lots-of-ways-to-time-travel-1452913552
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