From an official standpoint, both sides of the Albany debate on whether to pass Gov. Cuomo?s ten-point Women?s Equality Act in its entirety or leave out the controversial abortion plank are ending the day by digging in their heels. A few moments ago, Cuomo?s office sent out this statement in ?
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Not long ago, if you walked into a store with $1000 to spend on an HDTV you'd have to settle for one with a small 720p screen and almost no features whatsoever. Nowadays, that same $1000 gets you a much larger full HD screen, and in some cases, neat features like 3D and networking capabilities, as seen with the Vizio E601I-A3. With the Toshiba L2300U series you can get a fairly big 1080p screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, good audio output, and a relatively sharp LED backlit picture, but that's about it. This bare-bones HDTV line is not only light on features but its color accuracy is off and its black levels are weak. We tested the 50-inch 50L2300U ($999.99 list) , and while it's a serviceable HDTV there are better deals to be had for the money.
Editors' Note: This review is based on tests performed on the Toshiba 50L2300U, the 50-inch model of the series. Besides the screen-size difference, the?39-inch $529.99 39L2300U is otherwise?identical in features, and while we didn't perform lab tests on this specific model, we expect similar performance.
Design and Features
The 50L2300U's?3.5-inch deep cabinet is relatively thick for an LED-backlit HDTV. Thin (0.8-inch) glossy black bezels frame the top and sides of the panel, while the 1-inch bottom bezel is done up in a gun metal gray finish with a remote sensor and power indicator light on the right side. The screen comes with a rectangular plastic stand that matches the set's bottom bezel. It doesn't do a very good job of supporting the 33.5 pound cabinet and was pretty wobbly after we put it together. You'd be better off mounting this TV on a wall, if possible.
This set only comes with three HDMI ports, two of which are at the rear of the cabinet facing inconveniently outward. They are joined by a set of shared component/composite AV ports, a VGA (PC video) input, a cable/antenna jack, and two audio jacks (digital-out and analog-in). The third HDMI port shares space on the left side of the cabinet with a single USB port and four control buttons (Volume Up/Down, Channel Up/Down, Power, and Input). Unlike the Vizio E601I-A3 and Sony Bravia KDL-50EX645, the 50L2300U does not support Internet connectivity, and as such, lacks any Web services. It also doesn't have 3D capabilities.
The 7-inch remote is a basic wand with 34 buttons and four directional arrow keys for navigating the settings menus. None of the keys are backlit, but the white labeling stands out and is easy to read. The 50L2300U offers plenty of picture settings; there are five presets (Dynamic, Standard, Movie, Game, and PC) and the usual Brightness, Contrast, Color, Tint, and Sharpness adjustments. In the Advanced menu you can fine-tune color levels by enabling the ColorMaster option, allowing you to access the BaseColor Adjustment menu where you can adjust hue, saturation, and brightness levels for red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, and magenta colors. Here you can also adjust Gamma and Color Temperature settings, enable the Auto Brightness and DynaLight (black level correction) options, and switch on the Edge Enhancer for a sharper picture.
There are also a good selection of audio settings that coax solid output from the down-firing speakers. You won't rattle the windows with this set but the Audyssey ABX switch provides a decent bass boost and a bit more pop than you'd expect from HDTV speakers. The Stable Sound feature, which prevents sudden changes in volume when channel surfing, is a useful option.
Performance
The 50L2300U handles 1080p content reasonably well but, doesn't produce the dark blacks necessary for intricate shadow detail and a high contrast ratio. Using a Klein K10-A colorimeter, SpectraCal's CalMAN 5, and images from the DisplayMate HDTV diagnostic utility, I measured a peak brightness of 251.76 cd/m2?and a black level of 0.1836 cd/m2, neither of which are very impressive (the black levels were particularly high). The resulting 1,371:1 contrast ratio can be blamed for the murky shadow detail I observed while watching underwater scenes from the movie?Piranha?on Blu-ray, and is disappointing compared with the Editors' Choice budget HDTV, the RCA LED42C45RQ's?admittedly middling 1,796:1 contrast ratio. Motion handling, on the other hand, was very good, thanks to the panel's 120Hz refresh rate.
Color accuracy was sketchy; as shown in the CIE chart above, reds were oversaturated, greens were a bit light, and whites were a bit warm. The closer each dot is to its color box the more accurate the color. The light green reproduction didn't have an obvious effect as far as tinting goes, but the hot reds had skin tones looking more flushed than they should be. A full calibration would likely correct this problem and the 50L2300U certainly has the controls to perform one, but a full color calibration is a time-consuming process that can be expensive if you're not familiar with the process yourself. Viewing angle performance was good; there was a slight loss of luminance when viewed from around 60-degrees from center, but colors remained true.
The 50L2300U used 87 watts of power during testing in standard mode and 69 watts in movie mode. That's significantly better than the Sony Bravia KDL-50EX645?(106 watts in standard mode and 92 watts in Eco mode) and comparable to the LG 55LM6700?(67 watts).
Conclusion
The Toshiba 50L2300U isn't a top performer and it isn't packed with features. It is affordable, however, and gets you into a 120Hz big-screen HDTV for under a grand. It doesn't use a lot of power and offers better than average audio output, but its out of the box color accuracy could be better and its black level performance is weak. If you're itching for a big screen HDTV and have limited funds, this model will fill the bill, but there are better choices out there, including the Vizio E601I-A3, which offers a bigger screen and both wired and wireless Ethernet capabilities. Or, if you can live with a smaller 46-inch screen, our Editors' Choice for budget HDTVs, the RCA LED46C45RQ, offers better color accuracy for less than half the list price of the 50L2300U.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/bcceHqzWbcM/0,2817,2420557,00.asp
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President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Monday, June 17, 2013. Obama and Putin discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria during their bilateral meeting. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Monday, June 17, 2013. Obama and Putin discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria during their bilateral meeting. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Monday, June 17, 2013. Obama and Putin discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria during their bilateral meeting. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Barack Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Monday, June 17, 2013. Obama and Putin discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria during their bilateral meeting. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
From right, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, US President Barack Obama and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy attend a media conference regarding EU-US trade at the G-8 summit in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. British Prime Minister Cameron said he expects formal agreement to launch negotiations on a European-American free trade agreement. He also said a pact to slash tariffs on exports would boost employment and growth on both sides of the Atlantic. (AP Photo/Andrew Winning, Pool)
US President Barack Obama delivers a keynote address ahead of the G-8 summit at Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Monday, June 17, 2013. (AP Photo/ Paul Faith, Pool)
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) ? Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Barack Obama on Monday that their positions on Syria do not "coincide" but the two leaders said during the G-8 summit that they have a shared interest in stopping the violence that has ravaged the Middle Eastern country during a two-year-old civil war.
Obama acknowledged in a bilateral meeting with Putin in Northern Ireland that they have a "different perspective" on Syria but he said that both leaders wanted to address the fierce fighting and also wanted to secure chemical weapons in the country. The U.S. president said both sides would work to develop talks in Geneva aimed at ending the country's bloody civil war.
"We do have differing perspectives on the problem but we share an interest in reducing the violence, securing chemical weapons and ensuring that they're neither used nor are they subject to proliferation," Obama said. "We want to try to resolve the issue through political means if possible."
Putin said "of course our opinions do not coincide, but all of us have the intention to stop the violence in Syria and to stop the growth of victims and to solve the situation peacefully, including by bringing the parties to the negotiations table in Geneva. We agreed to push the parties to the negotiations table."
While Putin has called for negotiated peace talks, he has not urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power, and he remains one of Assad's strongest political and military allies. The White House did not expect any breakthrough with Putin on Syria during the gathering of the Group of Eight Summit at a lakeside golf resort near Enniskillen and the meeting further highlighted the rift between the two countries on how to address the fighting in the country.
Obama announced Friday that the U.S. would start sending weaponry, while Britain and France remained concerned that the firepower might end up helping anti-democratic extremists linked to Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia. Putin has defended Russia's continuing supply of weapons to Assad's military.
At least 93,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict since it erupted in March 2011, according to a recent U.N. estimate. Millions have been displaced.
The European Union has also allowed a weapons embargo against Syria to expire, allowing members of the 27-nation bloc to arm the rebels. France and Britain are moving in that direction, but the German government opposes such a move.
Assad warned that Europe "will pay a price" if it delivers weapons to rebels who are trying to topple his government. In an interview with the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Runschau published Monday, Assad dismissed the Obama administration's contention that the Syrian army used chemical weapons against the rebels.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said following a meeting with Putin on Sunday that the West needs to unite behind a diplomatic push that transitions Assad from power.
Obama's discussions with Putin capped a busy day that included a preview of future negotiations toward a broad trade deal with the European Union and speech in Belfast where he called peace in Northern Ireland a "blueprint" for those living amid conflict around the world.
Pointing to potential economic benefits, Obama said the U.S. would host the first round of negotiations on the trade deal with the European Union next month in Washington. The agreement aims to forge a free trade pact designed to slash tariffs, boost exports and fuel badly needed economic growth.
Obama predicted the parties would need to overcome sensitivities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. While leaders would be giving strong mandates to their negotiators, Obama said he suspected the leaders themselves would need to intervene at certain points to work through hang-ups.
At the start of his European trip, Obama noted the progress of peace in Northern Ireland and summoned young people at Belfast's Waterfront Hall to take responsibility for their country's future, warning that there is "more to lose now than there's ever been."
"The terms of peace may be negotiated by political leaders, but the fate of peace is up to each of us," Obama said near a glass-fronted building, which would never have been built during the city's long era of car bombs.
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That baffling metallic Nokia EOS chassis we saw the other day? It's back, but this time the same leakster from Sina Weibo managed to get a shot of at least 12 of them, meaning the device has likely reached some sort of production stage. In another photo, we can see the same button arrangement -- presumably volume, power and camera -- that's already present on the current Lumia range. The strange thing is we've yet to see a cover plate that will match this seemingly smaller camera opening, but the square shape does make us wonder whether this will fit Pelican Imaging's 16-lens array camera. After all, Nokia did announce its investment in this plenoptic camera technology. Hopefully Elop will personally explain what's going on at his event on July 11th -- maybe with both this and the plastic EOS in his hands.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia
Via: Engadget China
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John Mellencamp and Stephen King have hardly been idle over the last 10 years. But in their not-so-copious spare time, they've actually been collaborating on another project (with musician T-Bone Burnett) that'll be a first for both: A Southern Gothic supernatural musical.
"Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" has been more than a decade in the making; back in 2000 when Billboard first wrote about it, it was called "Mississippi Ghost Brothers." But whatever's changed about it over the years, the core remains the same -- singer/songwriter Mellencamp bought a cabin on a lake, and later learned about a brother-on-brother murder that happened there. He spoke to King about it, and the two found a natural connection over the material. King wrote the words, Mellencamp the songs and Burnett produced the whole package, which debuted onstage in Atlanta last year.
"We didn't want to get a big orchestral 'Phantom of the Opera' feel," King said on "Morning Joe" Friday. "We wanted a kind of American music thing, a smaller acoustic deal."
They recorded the music, with singers like Elvis Costello, Roseanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson lending their talents to the songs.
And over the time span, something else new happened: The writer and the musician became good friends. "This was an opportunity for all three of us to get out of our trenches, to do something different," Mellencamp said. "For me, 'Ghost Brothers' is already a success, because over the last 15 years Steve King has become like my brother."
Still, there was one aspect to the interview that threatened to overshadow the rest -- the fact that Mellencamp was sitting there in the studio sporting a black eye. They barely touched on it during the chat, but Mellencamp went into greater detail about it with David Letterman when he visited "Late Show" with King on June 5.
"Was there trouble backstage?" Letterman joked on seeing the eye.
Mellencamp explained it came from his son -- his fully grown son. "My son and I had words and he got a punch in and I didn't," he said. "(He's) 18. He's 6'2 and weighs almost 200 pounds."
Letterman chastised Mellencamp for picking a fight with his kid, which the singer said reminded him of how his own father had reacted. "My son punches me and my dad calls me and says, 'John, you need to change your attitude.'"
"Ghost Brothers" is set to go on the road later in 2013; more information can be found at the website here.
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? Argentine rescue workers are responding to a fatal commuter train wreck.
A two-level train slammed into another that had stopped between stations during the morning commute Thursday. Firefighters and police are pulling passengers from the wreckage, and helicopters are taking people to emergency rooms.
Train operator spokesman Pablo Gunning says there are "various fatalities" though has not specified how many
Union leader Ruben Sobrero told reporters at the scene that the two-level train had been out of service for six months before it was brought back online shortly before the acccident. Gunning said the engine had new brakes installed.
The accident happened on the same Sarmiento line that the government took over after another wreck blamed on brake failures caused 51 deaths and 700 injuries last year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/argentina-dead-injured-commuter-train-wreck-124953785.html
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are surging on Wall Street as investors focus on positive news about the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 180 points, or 1.2 percent, at 15,176 Thursday.
The market got off to a weak start, then rose steadily throughout the day. The advance accelerated in the last hour. The Dow is coming off its first three-day slump since December.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 23 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,636. The Nasdaq composite rose 44 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,445.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, and retail sales increased 0.6 percent in May from April.
Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was average at 3.4 billion shares.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-stocks-surge-breaking-three-day-slump-201127470.html
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