The Herschel Space Observatory was the world's largest and most powerful infrared telescope, able to see parts of the universe nothing else could. Unfortunately, it met its maker last night when it ran out of the liquid helium coolant it requires to map hidden corners of the cosmos.
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Surviving members Mike D and Ad-Rock will release oral history in 2015.
By Gil Kaufman
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706452/beastie-boys-memoir.jhtml
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Video editing app Magisto is picking up users, especially in the Android ecosystem, and it's giving those users a new way to add a creative touch to the videos they produce. Launching today at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, the new Magisto Android app offers a way for users to doodle on their videos, create new borders, and generally add a bit of flair to their videos.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/6KCQAWpgwLg/
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Square Register for iPhone and iPad has just received an update that adds new features to both iPhone and iPad. For the iPhone, you can finally view your item libraries which means no more having to key in manual amounts. On the iPad you'll now have the ability to create kitchen tickets to keep your line of customers moving faster as well as the ability to pair your Bluetooth barcode scanner.
This update is probably the most exciting for anyone using an iPhone with Square Register considering the fact that you've always had to manually key in amounts and never could create or view item libraries you may have on an iPad. If you've already got an item library set up, it'll automatically import into the iPhone version of Square Register. If you don't use the iPad version, you can now create items directly from your iPhone.
The iPad version of Square Register has also been updated to include order modifiers, customizable kitchen tickets, and the ability to pair Bluetooth barcode readers to keep your line moving even faster. If you already use Square Register for your business and plan on using any of these features, let us know how it goes in the comments!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/y-MIaqluZqI/story01.htm
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And now it?s getting blamed for ruining riders? relationships.
According to a piece by Meredith Hoffman of DNAinfo, the G train?s unreliable service and limited route is negatively impacting Brooklynites? dating lives.
?I had to make a rule that was, literally, if you live off the G you?re not for me,? said one Bed-Stuy resident, Mutale Nkonde, who lives near the A and C trains. ?To get to the G is such a monumental hike, it?s two buses plus a long walk.?
The piece quotes a number of Brooklynites who have ended relationships due to the G train commute, or have even sworn off G Train dating altogether.
Add to this a bit of a sketchy aesthetic, and the G train hardly puts riders in the mood for consensual lovin?.
?When you get there [to the Myrtle-Willoughby station] it looks Law and Order-ish. It looks like a crime scene,? added Ms. Nkonde.
An MTA spokesperson allegedly declined to comment, presumably because the MTA has better things to do than speculate wildly on their riders? dating lives. Like, oh, I don?t know, FIX THE GODDAMN G-TRAIN!?
Clinton Hill resident Alex Saba takes the G to visit her boyfriend who lives in Greenpoint, but told DNAinfo that the train has impeded the possibility of ?casual get-togethers.?
?He lives 3 miles away and it takes 45 minutes, at a minimum, to get there,? said Ms. Saba. ?I?m glad it?s there but it?s still a huge pain.?
If you were doubting that the testimonies of a couple of random Brooklynites points to a larger dating trend, then doubt no more: there are even viral videos?(2,466 views!) to support the cause. Specifically, a YouTube video Called ?The Brooklyn Date,? created by Tyler Fischer, depicts a couple?s magical date reaching a bitter end when the woman asks the man back to her G train apartment.
Poor, poor G train. Hopefully the MTA will make good on their vague chatter about fixing G service and, subsequently, enhance? romantic prospects for vast un-dateable swaths of the Borough?s population.
For now, Brooklynites, if you?re looking for your Sliding Doors romance, stick to the L train.
Follow Anna Silman via RSS.
Source: http://observer.com/2013/04/cant-find-the-g-spot-the-g-train-is-ruining-riders-relationships/
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A United Airlines jet departs in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Seattle. A day after flight delays plagued much of the U.S., air travel is smoother Tuesday. But the government is warning passengers that the situation can change by the hour as it runs the nation's air traffic control system with a smaller staff. Airlines and members of Congress urged the Federal Aviation Administration to find other ways to make mandatory budget cuts besides furloughing controllers. While delays haven't been terrible yet, the airlines are worried about the long-term impact late flights will have on their budgets and on fliers. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
A United Airlines jet departs in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Tuesday, April 23, 2013, in Seattle. A day after flight delays plagued much of the U.S., air travel is smoother Tuesday. But the government is warning passengers that the situation can change by the hour as it runs the nation's air traffic control system with a smaller staff. Airlines and members of Congress urged the Federal Aviation Administration to find other ways to make mandatory budget cuts besides furloughing controllers. While delays haven't been terrible yet, the airlines are worried about the long-term impact late flights will have on their budgets and on fliers. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
The control tower stands in the background as a passenger lays on the pavement outside the international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Atlanta. Congress easily approved legislation Friday ending furloughs of air traffic controllers that have delayed hundreds of flights daily, infuriating travelers and causing political headaches for lawmakers.(AP Photo/David Goldman)
A passenger sits at right in the international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Atlanta. Congress easily approved legislation Friday ending furloughs of air traffic controllers that have delayed hundreds of flights daily, infuriating travelers and causing political headaches for lawmakers.(AP Photo/David Goldman)
The control tower stands in the background as a passenger paces while on the phone outside the international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, Friday, April 26, 2013, in Atlanta. Congress easily approved legislation Friday ending furloughs of air traffic controllers that have delayed hundreds of flights daily, infuriating travelers and causing political headaches for lawmakers.(AP Photo/David Goldman)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Federal Aviation Administration said that the U.S. air traffic system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening after lawmakers rushed a bill through Congress allowing the agency to withdraw furloughs of air traffic controllers and other workers.
The FAA said Saturday that it has suspended all employee furloughs and that traffic facilities will begin returning to regular staffing levels over the next 24 hours. The furloughs were fallout from the $85 billion in automatic-across-the-board spending cuts this spring.
The furloughs started to hit air traffic controllers this past week, causing flight delays that left thousands of travelers frustrated and furious. Planes were forced to take off and land less frequently, so as not to overload the remaining controllers on duty.
The FAA had no choice but to cut $637 million as its share of $85 billion in automatic, government-wide spending cuts that must be achieved by the end of the federal budget year on Sept. 30.
Flight delays piled up across the country Sunday and Monday of this week as the FAA kept planes on the ground because there weren't enough controllers to monitor busy air corridors. Cascading delays held up flights at some of nation's busiest airports, including New York, Baltimore and Washington. Delta Air Lines canceled about 90 flights Monday because of worries about delays. Just about every passenger was rebooked on another Delta flight within a couple of hours. Air travel was smoother Tuesday.
Things could have been worse. A lot of people who had planned to fly this week changed their plans when they heard that air travel might be difficult, according to longtime aviation consultant Daniel Kasper of Compass Lexicon.
"Essentially what happened from an airline's perspective is that people who were going to travel didn't travel," he said. But canceled flights likely led to lost revenue for airlines. Even if they didn't have to incur some of costs of fueling up planes and getting them off the ground, crews that were already scheduled to work still had to paid.
"One week isn't going to kill them, but had it gone on much longer, it would have been a significant hit on their revenues and profits," Kasper said.
The challenges this week probably cost airlines less than disruptions from a typical winter storm, said John F. Thomas, an aviation consultant with L.E.K. Consulting.
"I think the fact that it got resolved this week has minimized the cost as it was more the inconvenience factor," Thomas said.
The budget cuts at the FAA were required under a law enacted two years ago as the government was approaching its debt limit. Democrats were in favor of raising the debt limit without strings attached so as not to provoke an economic crisis, but Republicans insisted on substantial cuts in exchange. The compromise was to require that every government "program, project and activity" ? with some exceptions, like Medicare ? be cut equally.
The FAA had reduced the work schedules of nearly all of its 47,000 employees by one day every two weeks, including 15,000 air traffic controllers, as well as thousands of air traffic supervisors, managers and technicians who keep airport towers and radar facility equipment working. That amounted to a 10 percent cut in hours and pay.
Republicans accused the Obama administration of forcing the furloughs to raise public pressure on Congress to roll back the budget cuts. Critics of the FAA insist the agency could have reduce its budget in other ways that would not have inconvenience travelers including diverting money from other accounts, such as those devoted to research, commercial space transportation and modernization of the air traffic control computers.
President Barack Obama chided lawmakers Saturday over their fix for widespread flight delays, deeming it an irresponsible way to govern, dubbing it a "Band-Aid" and a quick fix, rather than a lasting solution to the spending cuts known as the sequester.
"Republicans claimed victory when the sequester first took effect, and now they've decided it was a bad idea all along," Obama said, singling out the GOP even though the bill passed with overwhelming Democratic support in both chambers.
He scolded lawmakers for helping the Federal Aviation Administration while doing nothing to replace other cuts that he said harm federal employees, unemployed workers and preschoolers in Head Start.
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Working round-the-clock, rescuers have pulled more than two dozen survivors from the rubble of a Bangladesh garment factory that collapsed 4 days ago, killing some 350 people.
From within the wreckage, "We are still getting response from survivors though they are becoming weaker slowly," said Brig. Gen. Ali Ahmed Khan, the head of the fire services.
"The building is very vulnerable. Any time the floors could collapse. We are performing an impossible task, but we are glad that we are able to rescue so many survivors," he said.
The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards.
Here are some images from the recovery scene.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-survivors-found-bangladesh-collapse-163536116.html
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Scanners and mice are more similar than you might expect. Just as a mouse can sweep the breadth and height of an on-screen page, a device like a wand scanner can capture images of physical documents as it sweeps across lines or blocks of text. The IRIScan Mouse merges the two devices. You can use it as a mouse, and with a click of a button you can scan a physical document, OCR it, save it in various formats, or send it to social media or the Cloud.
The Mouse Scanner as a Mouse
The IRIScan Mouse is a wired mouse, connecting to a computer's USB port. The device is reasonably attractive, black (glossy on top, matte on the sides and bottom) with green trim. The Scan button, on the left side, glows blue, and blinks when a scan is in progress. On the bottom of the mouse is a plastic window through which the scan element can read the page. A flickering white light illuminates the page while you're scanning.
I've used the IRIScan Mouse as my normal work mouse for about a week, and in that capacity?in terms of scrolling and doing other typical mouse tasks?it's operated smoothly, with only a single issue of note. The scan button is on the left side of the mouse, right where I rest the ball of my thumb. The scan button requires a bit of pressure to activate, but nonetheless I've triggered it accidentally while writing a review or working in a Word document. Doing so is an annoyance, as it takes a few moments to stop and then cancel the scan. It happens most frequently when I'm standing at my test bench taking notes, though I've also accidentally initiated scans while typing at my desk.
Software
The scanning software comes on an included disk, which you install on your PC (it is Windows only). Software includes IRISCompressor, which enables compression of image and PDF files. You can send notes to Evernote?the IRIScan Mouse includes 3 free months of Evernote Premium. You can also send scanned text directly to Google Translate. Output formats include PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PDF, XML, and DOC.
Scanning With the Mouse
To scan, you place the mouse on a document, press the scan button, and sweep the mouse across the parts of the document you want to scan. As you scan a larger area, the view will automatically zoom out. You'll want to have plenty of free room to the sides of the document if you want to scan the whole thing. I found the scanning process awkward, as tracking wasn't that great.
When you're done scanning, you press the scan button again; the scan will appear rectangular and properly aligned. The Edit menu will appear; you can Paste the scan (either as image or text); Share (to email, Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr); send it to Apps (Evernote or Google Translate); Save (to the file formats mentioned below); Print; Edit; or access Settings.
When you paste a scan as text to a program like Word, the IRIScan software will perform text recognition on it, a quick process. Then you can edit or save the document. OCR performance was a mixed bag. It read our Arial test page at sizes down to 8 points without a mistake, but with Times New Roman it had some errors at all sizes up to 12 points.
The IRIScan Mouse is best for scanning individual sheets of paper; scanning from a magazine proved tricky at times as the text wouldn't always stay flat enough for a clean scan. Also, since the scan window is on the left side of the mouse, it was hard (and sometimes impossible) to scan to the inner margin on left-handed pages.
For about $50 more than you'd pay for a normal wired mouse, you can get the IRIScan Mouse, a wired (USB-connected) mouse that can scan to text or image, provides text recognition, and can save scanned documents to various formats as well as perform as a typical mojuse. It's best for occasional, light-duty scanning of documents or images. The scanner portion is most akin to a wand scanner such as the Editors' Choice VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Wi-Fi PDSWF-ST44-VP . However, most wand scanners operate PC-free, while the IRIScan Mouse doesn't.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/y9kosRXKU-M/0,2817,2418230,00.asp
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Milwaukee Bucks' Monta Ellis, right, and Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade battle for a loose ball during the first half of Game 3 in their first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Milwaukee Bucks' Monta Ellis, right, and Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade battle for a loose ball during the first half of Game 3 in their first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade, left, knocks the ball away from Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) during the second half of Game 3 in their first-round NBA basketball playoff series on Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Dwyane Wade was spending Friday getting treatment, and the Miami Heat are monitoring him ahead of Sunday's Game 4 against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hasn't made a decision about Wade's playing status, preferring to wait and see how his guard feels after getting "a couple of hours" of treatment. The Heat didn't practice Friday.
Wade is still recovering from bone bruises around his right knee, which caused him to miss six games near the end of the regular season. Spoelstra says Wade is getting better, but he needs time. He also needs to avoid collisions, which is impossible with as physical as Wade plays.
In fact, Wade had one collision in Thursday night's 104-91 win in which he was hit in the knee, face and elbow.
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Scooter Braun breaks down the song's appeal as it smashes records.
By Jocelyn Vena
Psy in "Gentleman"
Photo: School Boy Records
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706368/psy-scooter-braun-gentleman.jhtml
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French automotive designers Thibault and Marc Devauze and modeller Clement Couvreur have created this Audi roadster motorcycle concept based on a Ducati 848 engine but with elements of Ducati?s Hypermotard and Monster. The recent purchase of Ducati by Audi means such a motorcycle is not all that improbable, and Audi adds considerably to Ducati?s expertise with carbon fiber knowhow and Audi?s Direct Shift Gearbox. Audi-owned DKW was once the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world ? wouldn?t it be nice to see a real one of these surface. Thibault Devauze explained to Gizmag how the concept came to be: ?In 2011, I was working at Opel when I went to Ingolstadt to visit my brother, who was an intern at Audi. We visited Audi?s museum and BMW?s museum in Munich and we were inspired by all the things we saw. A few weeks later, I heard that Audi had bought Ducati, and that gave me this idea.
At the same time, my friend Clement Couvreur, an excellent modeler from ISD Valenciennes, came to work in my department at Opel. He was the first guy who I talked about my project and he was very excited about it. We made a deal ? I would make the design and he would make the 3d model. ?Things didn?t work out as we had planned. Two months later, he moved to France to join Peugeot?s design team and I moved to Italy to join Granstudio. That made it difficult to work on the project collaboratively, and why it took two years and not two months as we expected at the beginning! A few months later, my brother Marc joined us and we finished the last 20% of the work. Marce helped a lot by managing all the details and doing all the 3D render. The bike is a vision of what an Audi bike could be. It is a our first bike for Ducati but if the reaction is good, we will do an other one which will be completely different.
We think it looks great, and as we?ve written before, the Ducatista are blessed that the Ducati marque has found such a fertile and supportive home, and it is to be hoped it brings many new and exciting chapters to the Ducati legend. This concept fits the design language of Audi so well, that it could easily be imagined on the Audi stand at a major auto show. Thibault?s outline of the Audi Motorrad concept raised some interesting aspects. When the brothers visited the Audi museum, they realised how important motorcycles were to the Audi heritage. The Audi name compromises many different famous marques, including NSU, Auto Union, Wanderer and DKW. DKW was the world?s largest manufacturer of motorcycles prior to WWII, and though its motorcycles were dominant in the smaller classes in pre-WWII Grand Prix across Europe, its greatest legacy was the RT125 two-stroke single.
The bike?s designs essentially became open source due to reparations after WWII and became the basis for many other motorcycles, most famously the Harley Hummer, BSA?s famous Bantam, Jawa 125, Royal Enfield?s Flying Flea and Triumph?s BDG125. Remarkably, the RT125 appears to have been the basis for the foundation of a few not-so-insignificant motorcycle companies too. Yamaha?s first motorcycle (the YA125) was a direct copy of the RT125 as was Kawasaki?s first production motorcycle. If that?s not enough, there are also some striking similarities between the RT125 and MV Agusta?s first motorcycle, the Turismo.
MV Agusta remains one of motorcycling?s most honoured marques, having won numerous World Championships. That?s not a bad trifecta. So a motorcycle wearing an Audi badge isn?t all that far fetched, and the core of Audi?s motorcycle IP is now centred on Ducati. On the basis of the incredible legacy the DKW name leaves, perhaps it should also be resurrected as a sister brand to Ducati. Many other automotive marques have been reborn thanks to the landmark values they created, and DKW?s provenance is stellar. ( By Mike Hanlon from www.gizmag.com ) For more information follow also the link bellow.
www.audi.com
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Source: http://5election.com/2013/04/26/the-audi-motorrad-concept-based-on-ducati-848/
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By Edith Honan and Mark Hosenball
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The two brothers suspected of carrying out last week's deadly Boston Marathon bombing decided, after the FBI released photos of them, to drive to Manhattan and detonate more explosives in Times Square, New York City officials said on Thursday.
Their plan unraveled when they realized a Mercedes sport utility vehicle they had hijacked on April 18, three days after the Boston bombing, did not have enough gasoline for the journey, said New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
New York has been on heightened alert since the September 11, plane hijackings in 2001 destroyed the World Trade Center and officials said the plan by the Boston bombing suspects, ethnic Chechens Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, showed America's most populous city remained a magnet for attackers.
Manhattan's Times Square was the target of an attempted car bombing by a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen in May 2010.
In the sharpest criticism of President Barack Obama's security policies since the blasts, a Republican senator said the Boston bombing, which killed three people and wounded 264, illustrated a "broken" national security system.
This week, lawmakers demanded answers about what the U.S. government knew about the suspects before the bombing, especially Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who Russia had asked the FBI to question in 2011 over concerns he may have been a radical Islamist. He died on Friday in a shootout with police.
The surviving brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is recovering from wounds in a Boston hospital since he was captured on Friday night and told investigators of the alleged Times Square plan.
"Questioning of Dzhokhar revealed that he and his brother decided spontaneously on Times Square as a target," Kelly told a news conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "They would drive to Times Square that same night.
"That plan, however, fell apart when they realized that the vehicle that they hijacked was low on gas and ordered the driver to stop at a nearby gas station," Kelly said.
At the time, the men still had six explosive devices, including a pressure-cooker bomb of the type used at the marathon and six pipe bombs, he said.
When they stopped to refuel, the driver of the vehicle escaped, Kelly said. The driver alerted authorities and set off a late-night chase and shootout in suburban Watertown, where police say the suspects threw improvised explosives at officers. Hours earlier, the brothers had shot and killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer in Cambridge, authorities said.
Earlier on April 18, the FBI released photos and video of the at the scene of the Boston bombing.
One Republican congressman said investigators have identified "persons of interest" in the United States to whom they would like to speak, some of them because of calls made from Tamerlan Tsarnaev's cell phone.
"There are also persons of interest here that we would like to more fully understand," said Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. "Their relationship and what role, if any, they may have played in that whole radicalization process. They are just still persons of interest, so they are not named."
Rogers also said investigators want to learn more about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's 2012 visit to Russia.
PARENTS SAY SONS INNOCENT
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was formally charged on Monday in the hospital with crimes that could carry the death penalty.
His lawyer, Miriam Conrad, declined to comment on whether her client was still talking with investigators.
The U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for holding and transporting suspects outside of prison, declined to comment on whether or when Tsarnaev might be moved from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The brothers' father said he planned to travel to the United States from Russia to bury his older son, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
"I am going to the United States. I want to say that I am going there to see my son, to bury the older one. I don't have any bad intentions. I don't plan to blow up anything," Anzor Tsarnaev told reporters in Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's Dagestan region.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said investigators might be interested in speaking to the parents.
"There are a lot of questions unanswered about the whys and the hows, and anybody who may be able to shed some light on that is of interest to law enforcement," Patrick said.
Anzor Tsarnaev's former wife, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, angrily denied that her son had any role in the attack and criticized police for shooting him while apprehending him.
Tsarnaeva does not plan to accompany her former husband on his trip. One factor that may have influenced her decision is an outstanding arrest warrant for her in Massachusetts.
A warrant for Zubeidat Tsarnaeva's arrest was issued on October 25 after she failed to make a court appearance on shoplifting-related charges, according to Natick District Court Clerk Brian Kearney.
'WITCH HUNT'
In Washington, the focus remained on intelligence leading up to the Boston Marathon bombing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev had been on a federal database of potential terrorism suspects and the United States had twice been warned about him by Russian authorities. Congressional testimony this week focused on whether the FBI made mistakes in tracking him.
"We're in the post-event witch-hunt phase, which is predictable," said James Clapper, director of national intelligence, at a conference in Crystal City, Virginia. "I think it would be a real good idea to not hyperventilate for a while now until we actually get all the facts."
Nonetheless, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham blamed the administration for failing to stop the attack.
"I just know the system is broken. The ultimate blame I think is with the administration," the South Carolina senator told reporters, linking the bombings with last year's killing of a U.S. diplomat during an attack on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
"Between Benghazi and Boston, to me we're going backwards, not forward, in terms of national security," Graham said.
(Additional reporting by Tim McLaughlin, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Aaron Pressman, Ross Kerber in Boston, Deborah Charles in Crystal City, Virginia, Alissa de Carbonnel in Makhachkala, Russia, and Atossa Araxia Abrahamian in New York; Writing by Scott Malone and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Mary Milliken and Christopher Wilson)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-suspects-had-spontaneous-bomb-plan-york-013726316--sector.html
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It?s a solution that came after all other avenues were exhausted. On April 29, more than two months after the Italian elections, the country?s Parliament is expected to give life to a coalition government. Led by Enrico Letta, a high-ranking member of the center-left Democratic Party, Italy?s new administration will be dependent on support from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a man many in Letta?s party regard as the enemy.
Indeed, the deal comes only after efforts to find another solution exposed deep rifts in the Democratic Party. After an election in which no party was able to secure a clear victory, Pier Luigi Bersani, the party?s leader during the elections, fervently opposed any compromise with the sex-scandal-plagued media mogul, only to resign his position last week after repeatedly trying and failing to get his parliamentarians to vote for his candidates for the Italian presidency. ?On any issue of relevance, the party is split,? says Roberto D?Alimonte, a professor of political science at Rome?s LUISS University. ?Letta might get more support from Berlusconi than his own party. That?s the paradox.?
The deal follows weeks of political brinkmanship in which the Democratic Party struggled to strike a deal with the Five Star Movement, a surging protest party headed by the angry comedian Beppe Grillo, who doggedly rebuffed efforts by Bersani to draw him into a coalition. Grillo, who doesn?t hold elected office, has condemned the government-forming deal as a corrupt pact between unpopular political parties, one that plays into Berlusconi?s hands. His parliamentarians have pledged to stay in the opposition ? positioning themselves as an alternative in future elections.
(MORE: Beppe Grillo ? Italy?s Comedian Turned Kingmaker)
In the meantime, the pact yields a new government that will only survive through compromise. With the Democratic Party having proved that it is incapable of holding the line, Berlusconi will be able to easily claim to control the government?s largest block of support. Recent opinion polls put Berlusconi?s party well ahead of his opponents, so there?s little question that Letta?s government will be heavily shaped by the desires of the former Prime Minister. Indeed, in an interview on April 25, Berlusconi indicated that his support would be dependent on the adoption of a series of measures, including the rollback and refund of a controversial property tax instituted by Mario Monti?s outgoing administration. ?It?s not so important who will lead this government,? Berlusconi said. ?We?ll sustain the measure of any government that can pass the provisions that we desperately need to exit from the economic crisis that the politics of austerity have put us in.?
For the moment, the emergence of the possibility of Letta at the head of a coalition government has calmed markets that had been skittish in the early days after the election. At 46 years old, Letta is young by the standards of his country?s aging political class. But he?s also a veteran politician, well known in Brussels and in other European capitals. First appointed minister in 1998, he spent the past 15 years alternating between terms in government and spells in oppositions to Berlusconi. ?We?re talking about a politician who is young, but also experienced,? says Guglielmo Vaccaro, a parliamentarian in the Democratic Party and a close Letta adviser. ?It?s really what we need.? In cooperating with Berlusconi, Letta will also be well served by his family ties; his uncle is a close confidante to the former Prime Minister.
Indeed, in addition to Berlusconi, Letta will draw much of his support from Giorgio Napolitano, Italy?s President, an important, but largely symbolic role more akin to that played by the Queen of the U.K. After being re-elected for an unprecedented second term, Napolitano has thrown his weight behind a coalition government, urging the country?s politicians to put aside their differences and cooperate. With the Italian public screaming for results, all members of the coalition will want to have something concrete to show from their participation. ?There is a potential convergence to a reform program that could deeply change the Italian economy and launch growth,? says Franco Bruni, an economist at Milan?s Bocconi University. ?The country is very conscious that things do not work.?
(MORE: How Berlusconi?s Shadow Loomed Over Elections)
According to Vaccaro, Letta?s government is likely to draw its agenda from a report written by a group of elder statesmen charged by Napolitano with charting a future for the country, focusing first on items all members of the coalition can support. ?We?ll work on things that unite us, which are many.? says Vaccaro. ?If we work on all the things on which there is agreement, we can start moving forward right away, and for the next couple of years we won?t have a moment to breathe.?
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MADRID, April 25 (Reuters) - Playmaker Andres Iniesta has dismissed the idea Barcelona are at the end of an era following their 4-0 Champions League mauling by Bayern Munich. Barca, who lifted the trophy in 2009 and 2011, were the favourites to win the competition ahead of Tuesday's semi-final first leg but they were so outclassed by the Germans that many pundits believe their recent spell of dominance is over. "I think it is unfair to talk of a cyclical change," the Spanish World Cup winner told a news conference on Thursday. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-first-quarter-revenue-matches-expectations-201558654--sector.html
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A good tool is both robust and accurate; it doesn't break down easily, or give faulty readings or results. This standard applies to everything from a bathroom scale, or vending machine to a sniper rifle. It also rings true for computer code. Industry and agencies use computer code to design products and test research in the digital realm. It cuts down and time and cost, and can allow a design to be tested in a variety of conditions. Teams of scientists and engineers at companies are dedicated to implementing codes that work efficiently and represent reality?codes that are robust and accurate. But sometimes, they get stuck.
"They modify existing commercial software or work with vendors, or work with house code and tools. It's when all this fails that they pick up a phone and call us," says Leszek Demkowicz, the leader of the ICES Electromagnetics and Acoustics Group.
Basic research, real problems
Demkowicz has gotten quite a few phone calls over the years.
Oil companies have called him about modeling streamers, three-mile long tools that map what's under the sea floor while skimming along the ocean surface. And a phone call from a friend with a deaf daughter started his research on the acoustics of the human head.
The problems that come across his desk are diverse, but Demkowicz is a specialist. For 30 years he has been studying adaptive finite elements, a highly technical modeling technique that strives to understand the larger behavior of a phenomena or structure by breaking it into pieces represented by mathematical equations.
Demkowicz, who is also a member of ICES Multiscale Modeling group and Predictive Engineering and Computational Sciences center, applies the technique to math and software related to wave propagation. It's a broad topic that has him helping to develop the numerical foundation behind high-tech simulations in fields ranging from optics, acoustics, mechanics, fluids and electromagnetics.
"The intellectual part may dominate if you're working on theory of numerical methods, as I do," said Demkowicz. "But the problem always starts with practical applications and the need for this type of theory for these applications."
For example, Demkowicz helped develop a code that can accurately compute values that don't have digits appear until the trillionth value space. That's a stream of 12 zeroes before a non-zero value appears. The sensitivity of the code pushes computing to its physical limits, nearing the 15th digit maximum that computers can accurately read.
On its own, computing the tiniest of numbers might all seem like mathematical puffery. To the oil and gas industry it has some very real uses. Before oil is drilled, tools are sent down the borehole that send out electromagnetic waves that sense the composition of the surrounding rock. However, the cement and metal casing of boreholes weaken the signals by a factor of 12 by the time they are read by the tool's receiver. Using Demkowicz's code, companies can accurately represent the wave receiving strength when creating simulations used to test and develop sensitive borehole technology.
"If you take standard methodology or code people will laugh at you. They will say that it is impossible," said Demkowicz. "But we delivered the impossible."
Passing the math test
To a non-mathematician, explaining the math that enables adaptive finite element methods can be like speaking a foreign language. Demkowicz says he has a friend that, when questioned about his profession, distills his work with numbers into the simplest of terms.
"He says that he's an accountant."
Still, how the technique is used to build simulations and can be broken down into four general steps:
mathematical analysis, discretization, verification and validation. The first step represents the problem, say modeling the wing of an airplane, through representative mathematical equations and then reviewing the work with what Demkowicz calls "mathematical sanity checks" to guarantee that the numbers and computing methods make sense.
The second step, discretization, converts the partial differential equations (which can produce results ranging to infinite values) used in the first step into algebraic equations with more concrete values. The last two steps are final checks. Verification, which has various stages, checks the code for errors that occurred in earlier steps. And validation puts the final simulation to the test in the real world by testing it experimentally.
"Only after you have managed to build all this machinery to solve the problem numerically, after you have built the code that computes the flow around the aircraft, can you design the aircraft," says Demkowicz. "Before you put a few human beings on an Apollo rocket and send them to the moon, you want to make sure they have a chance to come back."
Demkowicz's research will often focuses in on the details used in the first three steps. Engineers and experimental scientists take over once a simulation is ready for validation.
Computing discoveries
Demkowicz's numerical modeling methods have resulted in simulations that showcase interesting?and sometimes unexpected?phenomena. One simulation, currently under publication review, found that the reason some sounds can still be heard even when the ears are plugged could be due to a vibrating brain.
The project, which was initially sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, showed the brain acting like an alternate eardrum, resonating in response to sound waves. But instead of the waves being transmitted to hearing organs through the ear canal, they traveled through cranial bone.
"Those vibrations are transmitted in a much more sophisticated way to your cochlea where they generate electrical signals in your brain that produce the sense of hearing," said Demkowicz, plugging his ears with his fingers. The simulation results are still waiting to be confirmed through validation.
In an earlier project, Demkowicz helped develop a simulation that mapped eardrum pressure by analyzing the frequency and direction of an incoming sound wave?a relationship called the "head-related transfer function." The simulation, in effect, shows the different eardrum pressures associated with hearing different sounds.
It's technique that Demkowicz says could be applied to develop alternative methods for tuning hearing aids, which usually rely on simply asking patients if their hearing has improved?an option that's difficult to apply in infants and young children.
The resulting simulation imagery is often attractive and interesting; a multi-colored human head, the negative space of the human ear canal or air moving around an aircraft. It's a much more palatable representation for an outsider than pages and pages of mathematical proofs and equations that are the basis of the simulations?and that makes Demkowicz wary about relying on them too much to represent research.
"If I go up [to laypeople] and show pretty pictures of airflow around an aircraft, or vibrations of a submarine or propagation of acoustical waves in the skull and I tell them this is what I do, but not what it takes to do I, it completely trivializes the problem," said Demkowicz.
"Pretty pictures are for illustration and for enhancing our understanding. The final result if always hard core numbers."
The human factor
No matter how computationally intensive the research is, and how much he emphasizes the math, both Demkowicz and those that work with him say that a key component to conducting science is the human element.
"If there is one thing I have learned from Dr. Demkowicz, it's that no man is an island," says graduate student Jesse Chan, who is researching techniques in computational fluid dynamics with Demkowicz.
The extreme levels of specialization within computational science requires scientists to come together, and put their heads together, to perform useful research, says Demkowicz. And the methods that a team or contributing individual creates can often be better understand by simply knowing more about the people involved; where they're from, whom they studied with and their life influences.
"I always emphasize that science, like any other field, is very personal," said Demkowicz. "And one shouldn't lose the personal aspect of doing science because it provides a key to the understanding of why people think one way or another."
Demkowicz takes his own advice: One of the most noticeable parts of his office is a large yellow poster showcasing Polish mathematicians. Each name is accompanied by a photo and short biography. Demkowicz, a Poland native, shares with them a common heritage and interest in mathematics?but the similarity ends there, he insists: "Those are the greats!"
But during his 20 years at ICES, and ICES predecessor TICAM, Demkowicz has achieved his own notable accomplishments. He is founding member of the institution and serves as its assistant director. He's editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Computers and Mathematics with Applications and sits on the editorial board of ten other journals. And before ICES was created, Demkowicz served as the founding member and the first president of the Polish Association of Computational Mathematics.
That's not mentioning the research sparked by phone calls from basic research minded?or simply stumped?industry and government agencies.
Source: http://phys.org/news/2013-04-eardrums-electromagnetics-problems.html
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Growing is hard for a company as big as Exxon.
Exxon Mobil Corp. managed to increase earnings slightly in the first quarter thanks to surging profits from its chemical business and lower taxes.
But Exxon's makes the bulk of its profit by producing oil and natural gas. And that business slumped ? again ? in the first three months of the year as production and revenue declined. It was the seventh straight quarter in which production declined compared with the year earlier.
"This company has been very growth-challenged for some time," said Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones. "If they can get to the point they could keep (production) flat investors would look very positively at that."
Shares of Exxon, the biggest energy company in the U.S., fell $1.36, or 1.5 percent, to close at $88.07 Thursday, even though its results were better than Wall Street expected.
Finding and producing enough oil and gas to replace the oil and gas sold every year is a difficult task for all of the major oil companies. That's because their production is already high, while the number of untapped oil resources is limited. Also, oil and gas companies have to be careful about investing in long-term projects because if oil and gas prices fall, those projects can quickly become money-losers.
Exxon said Thursday that its net income for the first quarter increased 0.5 percent while revenue fell 12 percent.
The company, based in Irving, Tex. reported net income of $9.5 billion, or $2.12 per share. Analysts expected earnings of $2.05 per share, according to FactSet. During last year's quarter, Exxon earned $9.45 billion, or $2 per share.
Revenue dropped to $108.8 billion from $124.1 billion.
Overall, production fell 3.5 percent. Exxon's oil production slipped 1 percent as its oil fields experienced natural declines from peak production. Production fell in Europe, Africa and Australia, but those declines were partly offset by increases in the U.S., Canada and Asia.
Exxon's revenue was also reduced by oil prices that were $8.66 per barrel lower than in last year's quarter.
Natural gas output fell 5.9 percent worldwide, driven by an 8.7 percent decline in the U.S. Exxon and other domestic gas producers cut back production starting last year after U.S. natural gas prices fell to decade-lows in the wake of the historically warm winter of 2011 - 2012.
Exxon's refining operations took advantage of lower oil prices, and the chemicals business benefited from lower natural gas prices in the U.S. compared with overseas. Exxon was able to sell those more cheaply-produced chemicals and fuels around the world at enormous profit.
"It's just a huge cost advantage," Youngberg said.
Profit at Exxon's global chemicals operation grew 62 percent in the quarter, to $639 million. U.S. refining profit grew 72 percent to $1 billion.
Exxon's results were also helped by a sharp decline in corporate and financing expenses, which Exxon attributed to "favorable tax impacts."
Exxon isn't the only big company with growing pains. Apple Inc., which has jockeyed with Exxon for the title of most valuable company, fell to second place recently as investors question its growth prospects. This comes even though Apple posted the same first-quarter profit as Exxon ? $9.5 billion ? but on about a third of the revenue.
Follow Jonathan Fahey at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey .
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxon-1q-earnings-rise-production-slips-again-194046759--finance.html
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Companies that do the best when the economy is improving led the market higher Tuesday after several of them reported strong quarterly earnings.
Coach, a maker of luxury handbags, and Netflix, which streams TV shows and movies over the Internet, were winners after announcing profits that impressed investors. Financial stocks rose after Travelers' earnings beat the expectations of financial analysts who follow the company.
That's a change from earlier this year. The stock market's surge in 2013 has been led by so-called defensive industries such as health care, consumer staples and utilities. Investors buy those stocks when they're unsure about the direction of the economy and want to own companies that make products people buy in bad times as well as good. Until now, they've been less enthusiastic about stocks of companies that provide discretionary goods and services and do best in good times.
"For a change we are actually seeing more cyclical parts of the economy lead the market," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group.
The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index both rose 1 percent, and for a third straight day.
Stocks closed higher even after all financial markets were shaken in the early afternoon when a fake tweet on The Associated Press Twitter account prompted a sudden sell-off.
A posting saying that there had been explosions at the White House and that President Barack Obama had been injured was sent at 1:08 p.m. The Dow immediately plunged 143 points, from 14,697 to 14,554. The AP said its Twitter account had been hacked and the posting was fake.
Within five minutes, the Dow had snapped back.
AP spokesman Paul Colford said the news cooperative is working with Twitter to investigate the issue. The AP disabled its other Twitter accounts following the attack, Colford added.
Joe Fox, chairman and co-founder of online brokerage Ditto Trade, was at work in Los Angeles when he got a call from his Chicago brokerage offices telling him what had happened. Fox watched the market tanking, and its quick bounce back.
"It was a topsy-turvy rollercoaster for a few minutes there," Fox said.
After the brief sell-off, investors turned their focus back to earnings.
Netflix soared $42.62, or 24 percent, to $216.99 after reporting a big gain in subscribers in the first quarter. Coach jumped $4.96, or 11 percent, to $55.55, after it announced higher sales in North America, beat earnings forecasts from financial analysts and raised its dividend. Travelers rose $1.77, or 2.1 percent, to $86.35. The insurer paid out less in claims compared with the premiums it took in
So far, 69 percent of companies that have reported earnings for the first quarter have beaten analysts' expectations, better than the 10-year average of 62 percent, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.
Still, profits are expected to rise just 2.3 percent, slower than the 7.7 percent growth in the fourth quarter.
There are still plenty of earnings for investors to get through this week.
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, drugmaker Eli Lilly and Boeing are among companies that will release earnings on Wednesday. United Parcel Service ? better known as UPS ? Exxon Mobil and Amazon are some of the corporations that will give updates on Thursday.
The Dow closed up 152.29 points at 14,719.46. The S&P 500 ended 16.28 points higher at 1,578.78. Both indexes are about 1 percent below their record highs.
The Nasdaq composite rose 35.78 points, or 1 percent, to 3,269.33.
Tuesday's upturn in stock markets put both indexes back in the black for April and closer to the record highs they reached on April 11. It was a sharp change of tone from last week, when the market had its worst weekly drop since November. That sell-off started after economic growth in China, the world's second-largest economy, slowed.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.71 percent, from 1.70 percent late Monday.
___
AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode contributed.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-gain-earnings-fake-tweet-shakes-stocks-191328789--finance.html
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Last year, Olympus' release schedule danced around the E-P3: the camera maker launched the semi-pro OM-D E-M5 and refreshed its smaller PEN bodies, but didn't touch its original mirrorless form factor. We know the company won't be forgetting its roots this year, as its Chinese branch has posted a teaser for a next-generation, flagship PEN camera. There are no official details beyond superlatives about "classic" textures and "unprecedented control," but rumors suggest it will be called the E-P5 (E-P4 skipped due to superstitions) and might be joined by the mid-tier E-PL6. We won't have long to learn the full story when Olympus is showing off its new PEN in four Chinese cities between May 11th and June 1st -- in-person demos require more than just a silhouette, after all.
Filed under: Cameras
Via: 4/3 Rumors
Source: Olympus (translated)
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FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2010 file photo, an Amazon.com package is prepared for shipment by a United Parcel Service (UPS) driver in Palo Alto, Calif. States could force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes under a bill that overwhelmingly passed a test vote in the Senate Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 18, 2010 file photo, an Amazon.com package is prepared for shipment by a United Parcel Service (UPS) driver in Palo Alto, Calif. States could force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes under a bill that overwhelmingly passed a test vote in the Senate Monday, April 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Tax-free shopping on the Internet could be in jeopardy under a bill making its way through the Senate.
The bill would empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.
Under current law, states can only require stores to collect sales taxes if the store has a physical presence in the state. As a result, many online sales are essentially tax-free, giving Internet retailers a big advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.
The Senate voted 74 to 20 Monday to take up the bill. If that level of support continues, the Senate could pass the bill as early as this week.
Supporters say the bill is about fairness for businesses and lost revenue for states. Opponents say it would impose complicated regulations on retailers and doesn't have enough protections for small businesses. Businesses with less than $1 million a year in online sales would be exempt.
"While local, community-based stores and shops compete for customers on many levels, including service and selection, they cannot compete on sales tax," said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation. "Congress needs to address this disparity."
And, he added, "Despite what the opponents say this is not a new tax."
In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales tax when they file their state income tax returns. However, states complain that few people comply.
"I do know about three people that comply with that," said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., the bill's main sponsor.
President Barack Obama supports the bill. His administration says it would help restore needed funding for education, police and firefighters, roads and bridges and health care.
But the bill's fate is uncertain in the House, where some Republicans regard it as a tax increase. Heritage Action for America, the activist arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, opposes the bill and will count the vote in its legislative scorecard.
"It is going to make online businesses the tax collectors for the nation," said Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H. "It really tramples on the decision New Hampshire has made not to have a sales tax."
Many of the nation's governors ? Republicans and Democrats ? have been lobbying the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales, said Dan Crippen, executive director of the National Governors Association. Those efforts intensified when state tax revenues took a hit from the recession and the slow economic recovery.
"It's a matter of equity for businesses," Crippen said. "It's a matter of revenue for states."
The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the U.S. totaled $226 billion, up nearly 16 percent from the previous year, according to Commerce Department estimates.
The bill pits brick-and-mortar stores like Wal-Mart against online services such as eBay. Amazon.com, which initially fought efforts in some states to make it collect sales taxes, supports it too. Amazon and Best Buy have joined a group of retailers called the Marketplace Fairness Coalition to lobby on behalf of the bill.
"Amazon.com has long supported a simplified nationwide approach that is evenhandedly applied and applicable to all but the smallest-volume sellers," Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global public policy, said in a recent letter to senators.
On the other side, eBay has been rallying customers to oppose the bill.
"I hope you agree that imposing unnecessary tax burdens on small online businesses is a bad idea," eBay President and CEO John Donahoe said in a letter to customers. "Join us in letting your members of Congress know they should protect small online businesses, not potentially put them out of business."
The bill is also opposed by senators from states that have no sales tax, including Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Baucus said the bill would require relatively small Internet retailers to comply with sales tax laws in thousands of jurisdictions.
"This legislation doesn't help businesses expand and grow and hire more employees," Baucus said. "Instead, it forces small businesses to hire expensive lawyers and accountants to deal with the burdensome paperwork and added complexity of tax rules and filings across multiple states."
But Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the bill requires participating states to make it relatively easy for Internet retailers to comply. States must provide free computer software to help retailers calculate sales taxes, based on where shoppers live. States must also establish a single entity to receive Internet sales tax revenue, so retailers don't have to send them to individual counties or cities.
"We're way beyond the quill pen and ledger days," Durbin said. "Thanks to computers and thanks to software it is not that complex."
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Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap
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