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
Source: Sina Weibo (login required)
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12 hours ago
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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A field of flowering Ranger russet potato plants is pictured near Wilder, Idaho, on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. In a lawsuit moved to Idaho federal court this week, a U.S. wholesale grocery cooperative has sued the United Potato Growers of America, alleging the group's members in 15 states are illegally fixing prices and driving up costs. (AP Photo/John Miller)
A field of flowering Ranger russet potato plants is pictured near Wilder, Idaho, on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. In a lawsuit moved to Idaho federal court this week, a U.S. wholesale grocery cooperative has sued the United Potato Growers of America, alleging the group's members in 15 states are illegally fixing prices and driving up costs. (AP Photo/John Miller)
FILE - Potatoes are harvested at farm west of Idaho Falls , Idaho, in this September 2010 file photo. A U.S. wholesale grocer says America's potato farmers are running an illegal price-fixing scheme, driving up spud prices while spying on farmers with satellites to enforce strict limits on how many tubers they can grow. (AP Photo/Post Register, Robert Bower)
A field of flowering Ranger russet potato plants is pictured near Wilder, Idaho, on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. In a lawsuit moved to Idaho federal court this week, a U.S. wholesale grocery cooperative has sued the United Potato Growers of America, alleging the group's members in 15 states are illegally fixing prices and driving up costs. (AP Photo/John Miller)
A field of flowering Ranger russet potato plants is pictured near Wilder, Idaho, on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. In a lawsuit moved to Idaho federal court this week, a U.S. wholesale grocery cooperative has sued the United Potato Growers of America, alleging the group's members in 15 states are illegally fixing prices and driving up costs. (AP Photo/John Miller)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) ? A battle between grocers and potato growers has been silently hitting shoppers' pocketbooks, according to a U.S. wholesaler accusing America's spud farmers of driving up prices while spying on farmers with satellites and aircraft fly-overs to enforce strict limits on how many tubers they can grow.
Associated Wholesale Grocers' lawsuit against United Potato Growers of America and two dozen other defendants was shifted this week to U.S. District Court in Idaho, America's top potato-producing state with 30 percent of the nation's supply.
It's unclear how much the alleged price-fixing has bumped up the cost of frozen french fries or a steaming spud served with a steak, but the case isn't small potatoes: They're America's most popular vegetable, worth billions in sales each year, and their journey from the field to the table is complex. Farmers trying to make a profit dependent on weather, water and fuel costs are pitted against grocers who worry they're getting gouged.
And while the U.S. Department of Justice hasn't joined this case, its lawyers have been examining how large, modern agricultural cooperatives like the United Potato Growers are employing nearly century-old antitrust exemptions to strengthen their hands.
In this lawsuit, the Kansas-based grocers association, a cooperative supplying more than 2,000 stores including IGA, Thriftway and Price Chopper in 24 states, contends potato growers have banded together for a decade to illegally inflate prices in a scheme akin to the petroleum-producing OPEC cartel, reducing planting acreages and destroying potatoes to restrict what is available for sale.
"UPGA utilized predatory conduct and coercive conduct in ensuring compliance with the price-fixing scheme," according to the lawsuit, which alleges tactics including use of "satellite imagery, fly-overs, GPS systems, and other methods to enforce its agreement to reduce potato supply."
The grocers are asking for triple damages, likely in the millions, and are focusing on growers of fresh potato varieties found in big bags, as well as potatoes processed into crinkle-cut fries, Tater Tots and other products and sold in freezer sections of the group's stores.
United Potato Growers of America has organized growers in 15 states ? it has members in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin, representing three-quarters of the nation's fresh potato production.
United Potato Growers of America's Salt Lake City-based attorney, Randon Wilson, contends his group is shielded by the Capper-Volstead Act. The 1922 federal law was meant as a limited exemption from antitrust rules for agricultural cooperatives, while still aiming to protect consumers from unduly high prices that could accompany a monopoly.
"Right from the beginning, we did everything right, to qualify for Capper-Volstead," Wilson said. "We know what you have to do to qualify for that limited exemption and we followed all those rules."
Dell Raybould, an owner of Raybould Farms and a Republican state representative, is a member of the co-op and has also been named in the lawsuit.
Raybould, who grows Russet Burbanks and Norkotah Russets on 850 acres near Rexburg in Idaho's far east, paints a bleak picture of potato farming before 2004: A haphazard industry where farmers inevitably grew too many tubers, pushing prices into the cellar.
"I can remember when people hauled their potatoes out in the field with the manure spreader, dumped them and plowed them under," said Raybould, who has been growing potatoes since 1953. "They did try to level out production, so we didn't have the boom and bust thing all the time. And when they did, the co-op, they went about this the right way. They got the best co-op attorney in the nation, and they did it right."
However, Associated Wholesale Grocers contends the growers illegally sought to boost the price of potatoes.
At secret meetings in Idaho Falls, according to the complaint, big Idaho growers like Albert Wada and members of the Raybould family, as well as North Dakota ag-multimillionaire Ronald Offutt, worked with Wilson to hatch a far-reaching price-fixing scheme, creating a powerful agricultural juggernaut capable of squeezing buyers.
"None of the defendants ... is entitled to the limited protections found in the Capper-Volstead Act for their efforts to restrict potato supply and fix prices," wrote Patrick J. Stueve, the grocers' lawyer in Kansas City.
Though the Justice Department didn't return a phone call seeking comment Thursday, it's clear Stueve's basic contention ? that Capper-Volstead is being used to illegally inflate potato prices ? has emerged as an issue.
The DOJ and U.S. Department of Agriculture held workshops in 2010 on large agricultural cooperatives and their use of the law. Litigation has been mounting, too.
A similar federal lawsuit filed in 2010 targeting potato growers is now advancing in Idaho, a case that may eventually be combined with this one.
Meanwhile, antitrust complaints, including from the DOJ, have been lodged against mushroom growers, dairy farmers, egg producers and the cranberry industry.
Peter Carstensen, a University of Wisconsin Law School professor in Madison who focuses on antitrust cases, said a common gulf separates rival protagonists: On one side, large agricultural producers argue they're legitimately using the power of the cooperative to create a more efficient market, while grocers and the government contend they're inappropriately exploiting their antitrust protections.
"Capper-Volstead was designed primarily to facilitate more efficient marketing of agricultural products," Carstensen said. "There's an increasing perception that Capper-Volstead is being abused."
Associated Pressmothers day gifts kim kardashian jaycee dugard JA Happ Tim Lambesis Great Gatsby Mark Sanford
By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
updated 12:33 AM EDT, Thu June 13, 2013
Australian swimmer Chloe McCardel dives from Marina Hemingway in Havana, Cuba on Tuesday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- A jellyfish sting has stopped an Australian endurance swimmer, just 11 hours into her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida.
Chloe McCardel was forced to end her journey prematurely "due to a severe debilitating jellyfish sting," a spokesman said in a statement.
The swimmer was on a boat heading toward Key West on Wednesday night, spokesman Tim Stackpool said.
"She will spend the next 24 hours recuperating before deciding on her plans going forward," he said.
Earlier Wednesday, McCardel -- slathered in a thick coat of sunscreen -- lept into the waters off Havana to begin her daunting 100-mile swim across the Florida Straits.
Her goal was to set a world record for the longest unassisted swim. Before diving in, McCardel said she expected her marathon swim through shark- and jellyfish-infested waters to take 60 hours.
"I think it will all work out well," said McCardel, 28. "It will be tough though; it's not going to be an easy ride. But we will get through it as a team."
The attempt cost around $150,000 to finance, McCardel said earlier. She said she hoped to raise money for cancer research and try to improve U.S.-Cuba relations.
Each stroke the Australian swimmer took was monitored by teammates in two boats escorting her and by scientists at three universities in the United States.
But other than liquid meals handed to her in a bottle every half-hour by a kayacker paddling near her, McCardel said she would not receive help during the long-distance swim and not use any swim aids such as flippers or a wet suit.
In 1997, fellow Australian Susie Maroney swam the straits from inside a shark cage.
Since then, several high-profile attempts to cross the Florida Straits without a shark cage have been attempted. All have failed.
McCardel said she would use "a shark shield" device that emits an electromagnetic pulse to keep away hungry predators. But forgoing a full body suit made her more exposed to jellyfish stings.
Diana Nyad abandons swim after storm, jellyfish stings
CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.
Part of complete coverage on
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"Go to Latin America." Holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shares his advice for Edward Snowden.
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Paula Newton reports on the eco-friendly stadium planned for the 2014 World Cup in the shadow of the Amazon rainforest.
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He's broken every record in the book and won a glut of Olympic and world titles, but even at the age of 40, Haile Gebrselassie has no intention of resting.
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The world's tallest tower, the longest driverless public transit network, the largest illuminated advertising sign. What's the newest addition?
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Brazil's beach-goers here have been known to break into applause as the sun sets. Here's where to find that perfect beach experience.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/12/world/americas/cuba-florida-swimmer/index.html?eref=rss_latest
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June 5, 2013 ? Researchers have demonstrated a method for "temporal cloaking" of optical communications, representing a potential tool to thwart would-be eavesdroppers and improve security for telecommunications.
"More work has to be done before this approach finds practical application, but it does use technology that could integrate smoothly into the existing telecommunications infrastructure," said Purdue University graduate student Joseph Lukens, working with Andrew Weiner, the Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Other researchers in 2012 invented temporal cloaking, but it cloaked only a tiny fraction -- about a 10,000th of a percent -- of the time available for sending data in optical communications. Now the Purdue researchers have increased that to about 46 percent, potentially making the concept practical for commercial applications.
While the previous research in temporal cloaking required the use of a complex, ultrafast-pulsing "femtosecond" laser, the Purdue researchers achieved the feat using off-the-shelf equipment commonly found in commercial optical communications.
Findings are detailed in a research paper appearing in the advance online publication of the journal Nature on June 5. The paper was authored by Lukens, senior research scientist Daniel E. Leaird and Weiner.
The technique works by manipulating the phase, or timing, of light pulses. The propagation of light can be likened to waves in the ocean. If one wave is going up and interacts with another wave that's going down, they cancel each other and the light has zero intensity. The phase determines the level of interference between these waves.
"By letting them interfere with each other you are able to make them add up to a one or a zero," Lukens said. "The zero is a hole where there is nothing."
Any data in regions where the signal is zero would be cloaked.
Controlling phase allows the transmission of signals in ones and zeros to send data over optical fibers. A critical piece of hardware is a component called a phase modulator, which is commonly found in optical communications to modify signals.
In temporal cloaking, two phase modulators are used to first create the holes and two more to cover them up, making it look as though nothing was done to the signal.
"It's a potentially higher level of security because it doesn't even look like you are communicating," Lukens said. "Eavesdroppers won't realize the signal is cloaked because it looks like no signal is being sent."
Such a technology also could find uses in the military, homeland security or law enforcement.
"It might be used to prevent communication between people, to corrupt their communication links without them knowing," he said. "And you can turn it on and off, so if they suspected something strange was going on you could return it to normal communication."
The technique could be improved to increase its operational bandwidth and the percentage of cloaking beyond 46 percent, he said.
The technology is reminiscent of recent advances in cloaking using new "metamaterials," assemblies that contain features, patterns or elements such as tiny antennas or alternating layers of oxides that enable an unprecedented control of light and that could make possible a cloak of invisibility. The temporal cloaking, however, does not require metamaterials, just commercially available phase modulators and optical fibers. The effect is called temporal cloaking because it hides data being transmitted over time, as opposed to "spatial" cloaking to hide physical objects.
The project was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School under the National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship program. Financial support also came from the U.S. Department of Defense through a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/MkDaTPkipR0/130605190556.htm
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ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Police say they have arrested the former chief of a banned Sunni extremist group in central Pakistan.
Senior police officer Ashfaq Gujar says Malik Ishaq was arrested in the central city of Rahim Yar Khan on Friday. It was not immediately clear on what charges he was arrested.
Ishaq is one of the founders of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, which is accused of killing hundreds of minority Shiites Muslims.
He was also briefly detained last year, following attacks against Shiites in the country. His latest arrest came less than a week after a bombing at a market in the southwestern city of Quetta killed 89 Shiites.
Most victims of Saturday's bombing were Hazaras, a Shiite ethnic group that migrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan more than a century ago.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-arrests-ex-head-banned-sunni-group-124719000.html
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FILE - This undated file family photo provided by Damon Stewart shows 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton of Chicago who was was shot Jan. 29, 2013 while she talked with friends in a park about a mile from President Barack Obama?s Chicago home. First Lady Michelle Obama will join some of Illinois? most recognizable politicians and clergy to mourn the 15-year-old honor student whose death has drawn attention to staggering gun violence in the nation?s third-largest city. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Damon Stewart, File)
FILE - This undated file family photo provided by Damon Stewart shows 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton of Chicago who was was shot Jan. 29, 2013 while she talked with friends in a park about a mile from President Barack Obama?s Chicago home. First Lady Michelle Obama will join some of Illinois? most recognizable politicians and clergy to mourn the 15-year-old honor student whose death has drawn attention to staggering gun violence in the nation?s third-largest city. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Damon Stewart, File)
This undated booking photo provided by the Chicago Police Department shows Michael Ward, 18, of Chicago. Ward is one of two men charged with murder Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, of Chicago. Pendleton was shot to death Jan. 29 in a park about a mile from President Barack Obama's home on Chicago's South Side. Just days before her death, the band majorette was among the performers at events for Obama's inauguration. (AP Photo/Chicago Police Department)
This undated booking photo provided by the Chicago Police Department shows Kenneth Williams, 20, of Chicago. Williams is one of two men charged with murder Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in the death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, of Chicago. Pendleton was shot to death Jan. 29 in a park about a mile from President Barack Obama's home on Chicago's South Side. Just days before her death, the band majorette was among the performers at events for Obama's inauguration. (AP Photo/Chicago Police Department)
CHICAGO (AP) ? Two Chicago gang members charged Monday in the death of a 15-year-old honor student mistook her and her friends for members of a rival gang and attacked the group in retaliation for a shooting that injured one of the men over the summer, according to police.
Hadiya Pendleton died after being shot in a park about a mile from the Chicago home of President Barack Obama on Jan. 29, just days after she performed during his inauguration festivities in Washington. Her death was among dozens of homicides in Chicago last month, though her background and ties to Obama thrust her death into the national headlines.
Michael Ward, 18, and Kenneth Williams, 20, were taken into custody late Saturday, while on their way to a strip club ? and just hours after first lady Michelle Obama and other dignitaries attended Pendleton's funeral. Both men are now charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Monday night.
"Ward confessed and indicated Hadiya was not the intended target. They got it all wrong," McCarthy said.
Pendleton, a popular high school majorette, was with a group of friends who took cover during a rainstorm under a canopy in a park about a mile from the Obama home on the city's South Side. Police said a man hopped a fence, ran toward them and opened fire with a handgun before fleeing in a waiting car. Pendleton was struck in the back and died later that day. Two others were injured.
McCarthy said Ward told investigators he thought he was shooting into the crowd of a rival gang, and that the shooting was meant as retaliation for Williams being shot in the arm in July. Police said neither Pendleton nor her friends were affiliated with gangs.
Williams, who refused to cooperate with authorities after the July shooting, was driving the getaway car, McCarthy said. He added that both men were arrested while on their way to a strip club to celebrate a friend's birthday Saturday night.
Pendleton's death was one of more than 40 homicides in Chicago in January, a total that made it the deadliest January in the city in more than a decade. But her murder attracted national attention and helped put Chicago at the center of a national debate over gun control.
Not only did the first lady attend the teen's funeral, but the girl's parents were set to sit with Michelle Obama during the president's State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Obama is scheduled to return to Chicago three days later to discuss gun violence.
Homicides in Chicago topped 500 last year for the first time since 2008, stoking residents' concerns about gun violence and leading the police department to put more officers on the street and to focus more on combatting gangs.
McCarthy, who is pushing for tougher gun laws that would increase minimum sentences for gun crimes, noted that Ward was arrested in January 2011 on a gun charge but he received probation after pleading guilty to unlawful use of a weapon. If Chicago had laws like those in New York City, McCarthy said, Ward wouldn't have been on the streets.
"This has to stop. Gun offenders have to do significant jail time," said McCarthy, who rose through the ranks of New York City's police and is the former police director in Newark, N.J.
McCarthy said the arrests occurred after police figured out that the description of the car in which the shooter fled matched the description of a vehicle in which Williams had been pulled over a day before the shootings. The police superintendent noted it didn't come from a tip from the community.
"I'm sad to point out we did not get our target audience to step up," he said.
Just as the December killing of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., brought renewed scrutiny of the nation's gun laws, the death of the popular Chicago teen has cast Chicago's gun violence problem in a new light.
Earlier Monday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel seemed to make just that point.
"The only time when the gun issue ever gets affected is when Newtown happens," he said. "What happens in urban areas around the country too often ... gets put to the side."
He said that while it's not wrong that massacres stir such debate, what happens on the streets of Chicago and in other urban areas "gets put in a different value system."
"These are our kids," he said, his voice rising. "These are our children."
Emanuel joined McCarthy and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez at an afternoon news conference to announce they would push for tougher gun laws that would increase the minimum sentences and require offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.
They say the law now allows offenders to be released after serving no more than half their sentences and sometimes obtain their release after a matter of weeks.
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Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis (52) holds a newspaper and the Vince Lombardi Trophy as he celebrates after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis (52) holds a newspaper and the Vince Lombardi Trophy as he celebrates after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis (52) holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
El linebacker de los Ravens de Baltimore Ray Lewis (52) sostiene el Trofeo Vince Lombardi luego de vencer a los 49ers de San Francisco por 34-31 en el Super Bowl XLVII, el domingo 3 de febrero de 2013, en Nueva Orle?ns. (Foto AP/Dave Martin)
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, right, and head coach John Harbaugh celebrate after their 34-31 win against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis holds up a newspaper after defeating the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. The Ravens won 34-31. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? So, Ray Lewis, now that you've won a Super Bowl, what's next?
No, he's not going to that amusement park. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker is heading into retirement ? and he can't wait.
"Now I get to see a different side of life," Lewis said Sunday night after helping the Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. "My family, and my sons, my kids, they've sacrificed for me. Now I have the opportunity to sacrifice for them."
Lewis ended his 17-year NFL career in perfect fashion, directing a successful goal-line stand that provided him a world championship to take into retirement. After the 49ers failed to score on three straight plays from the Baltimore 5-yard line in the closing minutes, the Ravens could begin celebrating their first Super Bowl title in 12 years.
"How else can you finish that off but with a goal-line stand?" Lewis said. "That is championship football."
The 13-time Pro Bowl star began his final night on the football field with a motivational speech to his teammates. He ended it looking upward into a waterfall of silver streamers and purple confetti. And minutes later, he put his hands on the Lombardi Trophy.
"What we did as a team today was the ultimate," Lewis said.
As an individual, Lewis made seven tackles. Nothing special, really. He had 44 in Baltimore's previous three playoff games. But the Ravens played like champions behind Lewis, and as usual, they drew inspiration from him.
"There will never be another leader like him and we sent him out like his brothers," Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs. "His legacy will go untainted."
The last time Lewis played in a Super Bowl, he was voted MVP of Baltimore's 34-7 rout of the New York Giants. This time, Joe Flacco was the MVP because the Ravens' offense outplayed the team's usually reliable defense.
Ever since Lewis announced on Jan. 2 that this would be his "last ride," the Ravens have talked about providing him a title to take into retirement. And so they did.
"It's pretty cool," Flacco said. "Ray's a great person and everyone knows he's an unbelievable player, but he's the best teammate. It's unbelievable to send him out like this."
What a journey it was.
After defeating Indianapolis at home to open the playoffs, the Ravens beat top-seeded Denver on the road and knocked off second-seeded New England. Then, underdogs again in the Super Bowl, Baltimore blew most of a 22-point lead in the second half before mounting one final defensive stop.
"To me, that was one of the most amazing goal-line stands I've ever been a part of in my career," Lewis said. "What better way to do it than on the Super Bowl stage?"
Lewis' old buddy, 34-year-old Ed Reed, contributed a first-half interception. Jacoby Jones scored two touchdowns, and after the second ? a 108-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter ? he saluted his retiring teammate with a rendition of the "squirrel" dance Lewis made famous.
Days earlier, Lewis was confronted about his use of deer antler spray in his effort to return from the triceps injury. He vehemently denied trying the banned substance, and that sideshow fizzled out quickly enough so that it was not a distraction Sunday.
The Ravens will have another middle linebacker next season, but they will never have another Ray Lewis. Coach John Harbaugh was asked why the team responded so passionately to him and his effort to go out on top.
"If you're going to talk about the Ray thing, you want to ask about it, then the answer's got to be faith," Harbaugh said. "I mean Ray is driven by spirituality and faith and that's what he draws on and that's where his strength comes from. So if you really want to know, I mean that's what he's tapping into and that's what makes it so beautiful and so perfect."
Lewis was the second draft pick in Ravens' history, following Jonathan Ogden in 1996. Ogden, who was elected into the NFL Hall of Fame on Saturday, waved to his former teammate during the pregame coin flip Sunday.
Perhaps one day, Ogden will extend the same greeting to Lewis in Canton, Ohio.
For now, however, Lewis is looking to joining his family for some quiet time.
"No other way to go out and end a career. This is how you do it," Lewis said. "Everything around me is my kids. Daddy gets to come home now. They aren't going to like me being at home all the time."
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Iron Man, Captain Kirk and Oz will entertain during commercial breaks.
By Amy Wilkinson
Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man 3"
Photo: Disney
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701264/super-bowl-sunday-movie-guide.jhtml
Kerry Washington poses backstage with the award for outstanding actress in a drama series for "Scandal" at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Kerry Washington poses backstage with the award for outstanding actress in a drama series for "Scandal" at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Kerry Washington accepts the President's award at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Don Cheadle accepts the award for outstanding actor in a comedy series for "House of Lies" at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
LL Cool J accepts the award for outstanding actor in a drama series for "NCIS: Los Angeles" at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Halle Berry presents an award at the 44th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kerry Washington was a triple threat at the NAACP Image Awards.
The star of ABC's "Scandal" picked up a trio of trophies at the 44th annual ceremony: outstanding actress in a drama series for "Scandal," supporting actress in a motion picture for "Django Unchained" and the President's Award, which is given in recognition of special achievement and exceptional public service.
"This award does not belong to me," said Washington, who plays a slave separated from her husband in "Django Unchained," as she picked up her first trophy of the evening for her role in the film directed by Quentin Tarantino. "It belongs to our ancestors. We shot this film on a slave plantation, and they were with us along every step of the way."
Washington, who plays crisis management consultant Olivia Pope on "Scandal," serves on President Barack Obama's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
Don Cheedle was awarded the outstanding actor in a comedy series trophy for his role as a slick management consultant in Showtime's "House of Lies."
"This doesn't belong just to me, but I am taking it home tonight," joked Cheedle.
A few winners weren't present at the Shrine Auditorium to pick up their trophies, including Denzel Washington for outstanding actor in a motion picture for "Flight," Viola Davis for outstanding actress in a motion picture for "Won't Back Down" and Omar Epps for supporting actor in a drama series for Fox's "House."
"Red Tails," the drama about the Tuskegee Airmen, was honored as outstanding motion picture.
"Look! I beat Quentin Tarantino," beamed "Red Tails" executive producer George Lucas as he accepted the award.
LL Cool J, who was honored as outstanding actor in a drama series for CBS' "NCIS: Los Angeles," dedicated his trophy to fellow nominee Michael Clarke Duncan, "The Green Mile" and "The Finder" actor who died last year.
"I wish his family well," said LL. "Let's give it up for him."
Gladys Knight sang during the in memoriam segment, but the beginning of her performance wasn't heard on the live NBC broadcast because of a technical glitch.
Sidney Poitier presented Harry Belafonte with the Spingarn Award, which honors outstanding achievement by an African American. His honor was followed by a serenade from Wyclef Jean and Common.
Other winners at the ceremony hosted by talk show host Steve Harvey included Loretta Devine as supporting actress in a drama series for "Grey's Anatomy," Cassi Davis as outstanding actress in a comedy series and Lance Gross as outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for TBS' "Tyler Perry's House of Payne."
The Image Awards are presented annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the group's members select the winners.
___
Online:
http://www.naacpimageawards.net
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday it was carrying out a detailed, microscopic investigation of a battery that caught fire on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner in Boston this month as the probe dragged into a fourth week.
All 50 Boeing Dreamliners remain grounded around the world, as the U.S., Japanese and French governments continue to investigate that fire and a separate battery-related incident that forced another 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan.
The NTSB said experts at the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center laboratories were looking at a second, undamaged lithium-ion battery pulled from the same Japan Airlines plane that caught fire in Boston for signs of in-service damage and manufacturing defects. Both batteries were built by GS Yuasa , a Japanese company.
At the same time, Boeing was giving investigators relevant fleet information about its 787 airliners, which would help investigators understand the operating history of lithium-ion batteries on those airplanes, the NTSB said.
U.S., Japanese and French safety inspectors - aided by industry officials - have been trying to determine what caused the battery fire on the 787 in Boston and a separate smoke incident that forced the other 787 to make an emergency landing in Japan the following week.
After weeks of investigative work in Japan and various sites in the United States, officials still do not have any answers, raising concerns that Boeing and the airlines that operate the world's newest airliner will face a bigger-than-expected financial hit while it remains grounded.
The NTSB's latest update on the 787 investigation came hours after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced he planned to resign, marking the latest departure from President Barack Obama's Cabinet.
Boeing's shares closed 0.5 percent lower at $73.65 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Investors are looking for news about how long the probe will take when Boeing reports its fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday.
A one-month delay in 787 deliveries could cost Boeing $1.2 billion in revenue this year, said Zafar Khan, an analyst at Society Generale. He has a "sell" rating on the stock.
Neither the NTSB, nor the Federal Aviation Administration, which is looking at a broader range of problems with the 787, have set timetables for completing their work.
On Tuesday, the NTSB said its work on the damaged battery from the Boston incident, part of an auxiliary power system, had transitioned from macroscopic to microscopic examinations and also included chemical and elemental analysis of the areas of internal short circuiting and thermal damage.
The undamaged battery being examined by U.S. Navy experts provides backup power for important flight controls on the 787. They are using mechanical and electrical tests to determine the performance of the battery, and to find signs of any degradation in expected performance, the NTSB said.
Other investigators were looking at data from the two digital flight data recorders on the aircraft for any further clues about the performance of the battery and the operation of the charging system, which was built by Securaplane, a unit of Britain's Meggitt Plc .
Investigations are also continuing in Seattle, where Boeing builds the planes, and in Japan.
(Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Tim Dobbyn)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ntsb-takes-microscopes-damaged-boeing-787-battery-005106635--finance.html
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HTC has just quietly rolled out a spec page for a new device, the mid-range Desire U, targeted at the Taiwan market. Falling in line design-wise with the rest of the recent "One" and "Desire" devices, the Desire U has a smooth plastic body and rounded edges with a classy looking circle design that accents the back plate. On the inside, this device is clearly lower end, with a 1GHz processor, 4GB of (expandable) storage, 512MB of RAM and a 480x800 (WVGA) display. The U has a 1650mAh battery, which should give a good bit of life for a device with these specs.
The device is a Taiwanese listing, so the frequencies on this device are set up for that market -- 900 and 2100MHz HSPA along with 900, 1800 and 1900MHz GPRS/EDGE. No one is likely to import this, but with a striking design and acceptable specs, this low-ranger may do well in specific markets. We're finding unlocked pricing of about $275, which is quite competitive.
Source: HTC (translated)
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/AqiJR0MzSNw/story01.htm
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TORONTO (Reuters) - A senior Lenovo executive said on Thursday that the Chinese computer maker may consider Research in Motion as a takeover target, sending the Blackberry maker's shares up 2 percent just a week before it launches a make-or-break line of redesigned smartphones.
But Lenovo, which vaulted into the personal computer market with its 2005 purchase of IBM's PC division, would face formidable hurdles if it tried to buy a company that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper once described as a national "crown jewel." The Chinese company would also encounter tough regulatory scrutiny in Washington, cybersecurity experts say.
Lenovo, on track to become the world's largest PC maker, has held talks with RIM and its bankers about various combinations or strategic ventures, its chief financial officer, Wong Wai Ming, said on Thursday.
"We are looking at all opportunities - RIM and many others," Wong told Bloomberg in an interview at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. "We'll have no hesitation if the right opportunity comes along."
A spokesman for Lenovo said Wong was asked about RIM by the Bloomberg journalist and that Wong was speaking broadly about Lenovo's M&A strategy.
CRUCIAL JUNCTURE
RIM, once a pioneer in the smartphone industry, has struggled in recent years as its aging line-up of devices have ceded market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and devices based on Google Inc's Android operating system.
RIM hopes its new touch-screen and keyboard devices, powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system, will help it claw back some of the lost ground. Optimism surrounding the launch has powered the stock higher in recent weeks.
Last May the Waterloo, Ontario-based company announced a far-reaching strategic review under which it was expected to examine all options, from software licensing deals to an outright sale of the company.
Earlier this week, RIM shares surged to a 13-month high after Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said RIM might consider strategic alliances with other companies after next week's BlackBerry 10 launch.
In an interview with a German newspaper on Monday, Heins said RIM's ongoing strategic review could lead to the sale of its handset business or the licensing of its software to rival smartphone companies.
Even so, analysts expressed skepticism about a Lenovo bid.
"Anybody who's serious about buying a company doesn't go talking it up. ... It sounds to me like a comment made more for publicity's sake than a serious approach for RIM," said Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder. "It is a very long shot at the best.'
NET BENEFIT TEST
Any bid for RIM would face a rigorous review by the Ottawa to determine whether the deal would bring a "net benefit" to Canada. The Investment Canada Act gives the government the authority to kill deals that could harm Canadian interests or threaten the country's national security.
In response to the comments by Heins, Canada's Industry Minister Christian Paradis told Reuters earlier this week that Canada may even go to the extent of reviewing a sale of RIM's handset business if such a deal was proposed.
"Research in Motion has made an important contribution to information and communications technology in Canada, a sector that is so important to the Canadian economy. We hope they continue to do so well into the future," Paradis said in an emailed response to the Lenovo comments on Thursday.
Cybersecurity experts said Lenovo would likely go up against tough U.S. government scrutiny as well since the Defense Department and other agencies rely on the Blackberry, which is considered more secure than other smartphones.
"A potential acquisition of RIM by Lenovo would raise a number of important security issues," said Michael Wessel, a Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, appointed by Congress.
"Government employees are one of the largest users of RIM's BlackBerry products and the security of their communications has to be of paramount concern," said Wessel, adding that he was speaking on behalf of himself and not the Commission.
After the comments from Lenovo, a RIM spokesman said the company had nothing new to report on its strategic review.
RIM shares closed 2.2 percent higher at $17.74 on Thursday the Nasdaq. The Toronto-listed shares closed 2.9 percent higher at C$17.80. RIM is a volatile stock, and moves of 3 percent and more are not uncommon.
Its shares are down almost 90 percent from an all-time high of over $148 in 2008, but the stock has rallied in the last four months as the launch of the BlackBerry 10 devices nears. The company's shares have nearly tripled in value since dipping as low as $6.22 in late September.
(Reporting by Euan Rocha in Toronto, Diane Bartz in Washington, Randall Palmer in Ottawa and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Leslie Gevirtz)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-lenovo-sees-rim-m-option-cfo-says-021217460.html
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Beyonce performs the National Anthem during the inauguration ceremony on Monday
Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
I'm hoping for a flurry of retractions. A Marine spokesperson said yesterday that she couldn't confirm or deny that Beyonc? wasn't lip-syncing, and pretty much every media outlet assumed that was an admission. On NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams said that Beyonc? wasn?t lip-syncing, but,??in effect, lip-syncing?; Jon Stewart's jokes took it as a given that she faked it; NPR is wringing its hands NPR-ily.
It's bunk. That lady was singing live. She sang to a prerecorded track?a canned band?and perhaps there was a guide vocal in her earpiece, audible only to her, but that was absolutely a genuine performance.
Kelly Clarkson performed to a prerecorded track, too. So did the choir.
I've done a bunch of lip-syncing, in music videos, and it's very easy to spot. Anyone who performs in, shoots, or edits music videos can see the tiny, observable latency endemic to lip-syncing. Beyonc? either sang live, or she's the most gifted?lip-syncer in the history of humanity.
Below is the video for my cover of "Take Me Home, Country Roads." My lips lag pitifully behind the words. It's because?and this is extremely common?the way I sing a song changes very slightly every time, and, six months later, the phrasing can be significantly different. Video directors have asked me to spend three hours listening to my own song, lip-syncing all the while, but I've never done it. The result is an eminently mediocre lip-sync. Ignore the mountaineer in Cazals, and watch my mouth:
Now here's Beyonc? at the inauguration. Again, don't look at anything but her mouth:
For comparison, here's Beyonc?'s video for "Work It Out," in which she's lip-syncing. It's difficult to ignore her thighs, but, please, focus solely on the lips:
If she was indeed lip-syncing at the inauguration, give her the Nobel Prize in mime.
A soldier can differentiate one type of gun from another by the sound of it; a bird-watcher can hear the difference between warblers. If your job is predicated on microphones?as an engineer or a singer?it?s not that hard to tell the difference between a live vocal and a prerecorded one. The easiest way to say it would be that a recorded vocal sounds perfect, in the way that a live vocal can't, and, to those who spend time meticulously mixing imperfect vocals to bring them closer to perfection, it's as plain as day.
In a recording studio, troublesome variables can be smoothed out. The reverb on the vocal can be exactingly calibrated. You can use a much more expensive, sophisticated, delicate microphone; a hand-held, onstage mic needs to be rugged. You can put a "pop screen" in front of the mic?in a live vocal you'll hear Bs and Ps go pmpp!; you'll hear a little more breath; Fs and Ss will make a slight whssh! sound.
The national anthem is a bitch to sing?it?s the K2 of national anthems. The low notes are really low; the high notes are super high. The tune was an 18th-century drinking song, and I'm sure that half the fun of it was that it turned a room of drunks into blissful Biz Markies.
Even Beyonc? seemingly had to decide which notes were worth the risk of flubbing, when choosing a key to sing it in. She chose the lows, at the beginning of the tune. "Oh say can you see" is barely audible; that's probably because if the sound engineer mixed the vocal expressly to make her shakier, lower range louder, the big dramatic notes at the end would shriek. A prerecorded vocal would be mixed such that those low notes would be just as audible as the high notes.
A singer with a big voice learns to pull the mic slightly further from her mouth on big notes, because it gets louder, and she doesn't want to kill people. Rewind that video, and note the words "twilight" and "ramparts." They vary slightly in volume?the low notes are louder than the high notes.
Most dramatically, sound waves actually blow around in the wind. Sometimes, when I do a big outdoor festival, I sound-check in calm weather, but the wind picks up when the actual show begins, taking my voice and throwing it someplace other than where I?m expecting it. It's easy to get confused. A politician might choke, like, "I'm not speaking right! Or the sound's not right! I better be super loud! Or use the mic differently!" That would be a Howard Dean moment. If you're the sound engineer at the inauguration, a big part of your gig is preventing Howard Dean moments.
Beyonc?, being a samurai, clearly came expecting that possibility. So she compensates: She sings the word "bursting" a little too close to the mic, causing a little bit of discernible distortion?it's like a subtler version of when you're talking into the mic on your phone, and you suddenly get loud, or too close, and for a moment the voice gets kind of larger and fuzzier.
When she pulls out her left earpiece?more on that in a moment?she's adjusting how she sounds to herself, and she subsequently pulls the mic further from her face. Notice how the echo suddenly gets more obvious?for a split second, the vocal sounds like it's going through a tin can.
Right after that, you can tell that the sound person is scrambling to adjust the sound, because she's adjusted her mic position. It sounds noticeably different until "Oh say does that star-spangled banner still wave," when the sound is dialed in again.
So: about the in-ear monitors. The sight of her earpiece begat the conspiracy theories, but an earpiece is not, by any means, a sign of lip-syncing. In-ears are worn by almost all singers who can afford them. Everybody who sings in arenas does. It may sound surprising, but, even for fantastic singers, it can be difficult to sing in tune if you're only hearing yourself on an enormous sound system?overhead, flanking you, and facing not you but the audience. Anybody who would sing outdoors, in the wind, in front of hundreds of thousands of people (and millions on TV), without in-ears would be gambling absurdly. The choir was probably too large for everybody to have in-ears, but I bet the soloist did; if Kelly Clarkson didn't use them, I'd be stunned.
Probably she popped it out because the sound was weird?see above. Possibly, she usually performs with just one in, and used both at the inauguration to be extremely cautious?upon beginning to sing, she might've thought, Oh, wait, I don't need this. (When I use in-ears on longer tours, when I can afford to bring along a sound engineer, I always keep one popped out so I don't feel insulated.)
Look, lip-syncing irritates me. It's everywhere. I was stunned that, after the Ashlee Simpson debacle, SNL continued to have musical guests who lip-sync.
And even more grating to me is the use of canned backing tracks when you could just put a real band there. Every single performance at the inauguration was done to prerecorded tracks?as was every performance in 2009, including Yo-Yo Ma?s. (He actually did fake playing his cello, because cold weather makes the wood and the strings of delicate instruments freak out.) I wasn't an enthused viewer of the Bush inaugurations, and I was high during Clinton's, but I'd bet you any sum that performances on those occasions were largely to canned music.
That sucks! America, the richest country in the world, can?t afford to hire an orchestra and put microphones on them? Is it, like, hard, or something? What is this, pregame at the Gator Bowl? But that?s not the scandal?supposed lip-syncing is. It?s weird that nobody in a TV news department, where remote reporters are always wearing an earpiece to hear the anchor back in New York, would explain why singers would use them.
For me, the most compelling evidence that Beyonc? was doing it for real is the HELL YES smile on Joe Biden's face. Now, that is, clearly, a dude standing two feet from an electrifying lady singing like a motherfucker.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=5c09d1a7bd26090de8b1e1ef4b7711c8
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