Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Sony SmartWatch 2 unveiled: a water-resistant 'second screen' for Android devices

Sony SmartWatch 2

Sony's taking a second stab at the fledgling wearable category it helped pioneer with today's announcement of the SmartWatch 2. The Android-powered wristwatch retains the familiar remote functionality of its predecessor (i.e., allowing users to answer calls, read email and texts, snap photos, etc.), albeit now from a larger, 1.6-inch (220 x 176) touch display. Sony's packed all of this "second screen" functionality into a handsome, aluminum body design that's crafted to be dust- and water-resistant (IP57), much like the Xperia Z line before it. And for users that want a little variety, the company's also offering a pack-in stainless steel wristband that can be swapped out for any other 24mm strap (Sony plans to offer alternative straps sometime soon).

The SmartWatch 2 also features support for NFC and Bluetooth 3.0, so you can easily pair it with compatible devices running Android 4.0 or higher -- something like the Xperia Z Ultra, perhaps. As for battery life, Sony claims the SmartWatch 2's rated for a maximum of four days with moderate use. But those with a lighter touch, or a penchant for digital wristwatches, may be able to eke out a full week's worth of juice. There's no pricing information to share at the moment, only a semi-concrete global release date for this September. Which is just about enough time for you (or, more likely, your Dad) to dust off that Dick Tracy impersonation.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/CP3SXqGmXvc/

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Blackhawks fan celebrate another Stanley Cup

CHICAGO (AP) ? The victorious Chicago Blackhawks brought the Stanley Cup home Tuesday and proceeded to take it on a pub crawl, with scores of ecstatic fans flocking to taverns and restaurants in hopes of catching a glimpse of their beloved players and the sacred trophy awarded to the NHL champion.

Many fans, bleary eyed from staying up the night before to watch Game 6, looked to the skies for TV news helicopters that would alert them they were on the right track. Others set themselves up at bars, hoping the rumors from friends or Twitter might turn out to be true.

"We've been packed since 7 this morning." said Brad Tice, general manager of The Pony on Chicago's North Side. "In 2010 (the last time the Blackhawks won the cup) it came here, and players hang out here and live in the neighborhood, so everyone is hoping it will show up."

In suburban Oak Brook, fans descended on a restaurant said to be a favorite spot of Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. By midafternoon, the cup hadn't shown up at either spot.

The trophy that turns into a drinking buddy once it is awarded to the National Hockey League champions had already put in a pretty full day. Though it hadn't made it to the runway of a strip club or the bottom of a swimming pool ? just two of the many players have taken it over the years ? it did get in an early morning limousine ride.

After the plane trip from Boston following the Blackhawks' 3-2 series-clinching win over the Bruins, the players were greeted at the tarmac at O'Hare International Airport with a water cannon salute from about a dozen fire trucks and police cars, all with their lights flashing.

Veteran forward Michal Handzus was the first player to emerge from the aircraft shortly after 4 a.m., hoisting the 35-pound cup above his head with both hands and shaking it several times. Guests, police officers and firemen cheered at the bottom of the stairs. Players, coaches and team officials mingled with the crowd for about 10 minutes before heading for the city to continue the party that began in Chicago shortly after the team stunned Boston by scoring twice in a 17-second span during the final 1:16 of the game.

There was a stop at a Harry Caray's restaurant in Rosemont ? the same first stop the Blackhawks made after winning the championship in 2010. There were more than 1,000 fans waiting, and players took turns hoisting the cup over their heads to screams of excitement.

"I was in shock. ... I jumped up so high that I stubbed my toe," Frank Espinoza told WBBM radio at Harry Caray's, recalling the late goals. "I didn't realize it until the game was over; I felt a pain in my toe afterward."

The Scout bar in the South Loop area of downtown was the next stop, as team members greeted cheering fans outside with high-fives before filing into the bar.

"My (5-year-old) son stayed up to watch the game but I told him he could go over there if it was packed and we looked outside and it was packed so we went," said Ekta Joshi after she and her son, Kabil, went over to cheer the players.

Because she and her husband know people who work there, she was one of the lucky few to be allowed inside, where they met some players and the coach.

"He got a few autographs on his hat and I'm sure he's showing it off at school now," Joshi said.

After that stop, the cup made it out to the United Center. But after a couple hours, Twitter heated up again with word that it was on the move again.

___

Freelance writer Matt Carlson contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blackhawks-fan-celebrate-another-stanley-cup-191156088.html

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Microsoft Keeps Apple-Bashing In Nokia Ads - Business Insider

It seems like Microsoft is trying to take Samsung's title as the official Apple-bashing smartphone provider.

The last string of ads for the Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 920,?and now the Nokia Lumia 925?are all about panning iPhone users. This time around, they are compared to pale skinned, red eyed, zombies not because of their Apple fanboy-dom, but rather because of the iPhone's supposedly poor photo quality.

The commercial is just plain weird though. And it doesn't even show off the what the Nokia phone can actually do as far as photo quality. Instead, the spot just makes claims that the iPhone takes bad photos.

Watch:

Picking on the iPhone is hardly new. While ad agency 72andSunny made it cool for Samsung, Nokia marketers actually slammed Apple in 2007 after it dropped the iPhone price by $200 and only allowed customers who had bought their phone 14 days prior to the cost drop to receive a refund.

Nokia took out an ad on Google that read "Sorry, Early Adopters" that appeared alongside the search term "iPhone price drop."

Last year, Nokia released a series of alleged smartphone beta test videos that aimed to prove that iPhones were subpar. A voiceover at the end of the black and white videos said, "If you ever thought that maybe your smartphone wasn't all it's cracked up to be, that's because it wasn't."

Strangely, all of the videos in the series except for the finale exclaiming in color that "the smartphone beta test is over"?have since been taken off YouTube?and the accompanying website www.smartphonebetatest.com leads to nothing.

Then came a dull spot in October 2012 panning Apple?for only selling smartphones in two colors whereas Nokia Lumias offer a larger variety:

And in April, Nokia released another ad mocking Galaxy and iPhone users' rivalry.

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We get what Nokia is doing, but is it working?

Samsung employed this strategy very well, but even it has moved on from only bashing its rival. Comparing iPhone enthusiasts to zombies might not be enough to get Lumias off the shelves.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-keeps-apple-bashing-in-nokia-ads-2013-6

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Judge: Calif. must move inmates because of fungus

(AP) ? A federal judge on Monday ordered the state to move several thousand inmates out of two California prisons because they are at a high risk of contracting a potentially deadly airborne fungus.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson instructed corrections officials to transfer most black, Filipino and medically at-risk inmates because they are more vulnerable to health problems from valley fever. The fungal infection originates in the soil of the San Joaquin Valley, where Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons are located.

He gave the state 90 days to fully comply.

About 3,250 of the two prisons' 8,100 inmates fall into the categories covered by the judge's ruling. But Henderson said inmates among those groups who already have had the disease do not have to be moved.

He also altered the recommendation from the court-appointed official who oversees prison medical care to exclude inmates over age 55, although that category of inmates could be included at a later date.

It is not immediately clear how many of the inmates will actually have to be transferred based on the judge's revised criteria, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for federal receiver J. Clark Kelso, who made the recommendations to Henderson.

Hayhoe said it makes sense for the judge to exclude inmates who previously contracted the infection because they can't get the illness twice.

Henderson criticized Gov. Jerry Brown's administration for delaying significant response to the problem for years and for its recent proposal to delay action for several months until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control can complete health studies at the prisons.

Prison officials are moving about 600 vulnerable inmates by August, but "are unwilling to exclude other inmates whom they know are at an increased risk of severe disease, which may lead to death," the judge wrote. "Defendants have therefore clearly demonstrated their unwillingness to respond adequately to the health care needs of California's inmate population."

Henderson gave the state seven days to begin moving the inmates from the two prisons located about 10 miles apart and 175 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the state is reviewing Henderson's order.

The ruling is the latest legal setback for the Democratic governor, who is trying to persuade federal judges that the state has improved prison medical and mental health care enough to meet constitutional standards. A three-judge panel that includes Henderson last week gave the state until year's end to reduce the prison population by nearly 10,000 inmates as the best way to improve conditions.

Brown filed a one-paragraph notice on Monday that the state will appeal the order to reduce prison populations to the U.S. Supreme Court, as it previously announced.

Henderson's valley fever order came a week after a hearing in his San Francisco courtroom in which attorneys representing inmates said 18 prisoners died in 2012 and January 2013 from complications relating to the fungus.

"The order is absolutely necessary to preserve people's lives and health because state officials have been simply unwilling to take appropriate action when there's a clear and imminent danger to prisoners' lives. It's the most recent example of the state's inability to protect the health of prisoners," said Don Specter, director of the nonprofit Prison Law Office that successfully sought both the valley fever and prison crowding orders.

Brown's administration has said it would have difficulty moving so many inmates while the state also tries to reduce prison crowding statewide.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-06-24-California%20Prisons/id-990a2cd23295425b8bd9f998596aa07a

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Monday, June 24, 2013

CE Around the State ? July Edition | Reference Librarians ...

Welcome back to another month?s worth of continuing education events worth a look?July has a few interesting options to help get you through your post-ALA depression!

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WebJunction is offering three webinars of interest this month, starting with?Libraries, Children and Families: new research and policy recommendations on role of libraries in early reading on Tuesday, July 9 from 1-3 p.m.?Susan Hildreth, director of the?Institute of Museum and Library Services, present on a recent policy report, developed with the?Campaign for Grade-level Reading, that highlights the role of libraries in early learning. The report also offers a plan of action for policy makers to build on current research and include libraries in early learning strategies. Attendees will learn about best practices for enhancing reading programs and how to participate in your community?s efforts to address literacy concerns. In addition, Lee Rainie, director of the?Pew Research Center?s Internet & American Life Project, will describe the Project?s?newly released reportabout the special role that libraries play in the life of families with children. Attendees will learn what matters to parents about their library experiences with their children, and how library programs and outreach can address those needs. Register HERE FREE

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Visit some new or newly remodeled school libraries on Wednesday, July 10 from 9:00 to 12:00?on a SLING Field Trip to?Mascoutah High School library,?Belleville East High School, and?Eckerts. Optional lunch afterwards.?This will be worth 3 CPDUs. Register HERE FREE

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Social media is increasingly more than just a buzz word in Libraryland?you?ve got to start knowing how to actually use it if you want to stay ahead of the curve! That?s why you might want to check out WebJunction?s webinar?Library Social Media Use on Wednesday, July 17 from 1-2 p.m.?The webinar will cover how to create, administer, moderate, and leverage your library?s online presence. Some basic security settings for each social media tool will be discussed as well.?Presented by?Dr. Roberto Gallardo, project director,?Extension Broadband Education and Adoption Team?(e-BEAT) in Mississippi. Register HERE FREE

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Meet fellow library professionals to discuss library marketing ideas and topics at the West Suburban Marketing Roundtable (formerly DLS Marketing Group) Thursday, July 18 from 9:30 a.m. ? 12 p.m. at Messenger Public Library of North Aurora. Meeting is open to anyone, group meets four times per year. We ?You can also join its Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/dls-marketing to receive up to date meeting information.?Please RSVP at mcoduto@oak-brook.org if you will be attending the meeting. Agenda suggestions are welcome. FREE

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WebJunction wraps up its July offerings with webinar?Localize, Mobilize, and Spotlight Your Library Services and Outreach Tuesday, July 23 from 1-2 p.m. It?s a?practical webinar looking at a variety of ways libraries can increase their impact and reach in their communities using mobile technology, social networking, and integration with the consumer services users already use. Register HERE FREE

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If your library serves patrons from any immigrant populations, you might be interested in?How to Create a ?Citizenship Corner? and Inform Immigrants about Available Health Resources, a meeting happening at Indian Prairie PLD on Tuesday, July 23 from 3:15-5:15 p.m.?Rachel Brooks, who is an Americorps Fellow working with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and who is assigned to World Relief DuPage, is working to implement a ?citizenship corner? in each library. This approach is based on a USCIS initiative from California which has recently been implemented with the City of Chicago libraries. The ?citizenship corner? would include a four-hour training for one or more people on staff at each library to be able to better help immigrants going through the citizenship process. Rachel will explain the idea of the citizenship corner and how it has been used at other libraries. She will be available to answer questions. For those libraries interested in participating, the training sessions will be in September.?Please email Joe Popowitch at joep@ippl.info if you can attend. FREE

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School librarians may want to attend the?RSA Back to School Workshop Wednesday, July 24 from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at?the RAILS East Peoria Service Center, 600 High Point Lane in East Peoria.?The purpose of the Back to School Workshop is to discuss RSA topics that are relevant to school libraries: circulation, cataloging, reports, system administration, special projects, OCLC, and more! Any school library staff member who would like a ?refresher? on RSA operations is encouraged to attend this workshop. Please note RSA staff will not provide in-depth training during the RSA Back to School Workshop. Register HERE FREE

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Source: http://rlace.info/2013/06/23/ce-around-the-state-july-edition/

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New shuttle Atlantis exhibit gives close-up look at space flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Sat Jun 22, 2013 1:05pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - In deciding how to exhibit the space shuttle Atlantis, which goes on display next week, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida opted for a perspective that would allow the public a rare view.

"One of the ideas that developed very early was to show the orbiter as only astronauts had seen it - in space," said Bill Moore, chief operating officer with Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts, which operates the visitors center for NASA at Cape Canaveral.

The developers of the exhibit raised the 150,000-pound (68,000-kg) spaceship 30 feet into the air and tilted it 43 degrees over on its left side, simulating the vehicle in flight.

The shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo bay doors were also opened, a gutsy move since the 2.5-ton panels were designed for the weightless environment of space, and a mock-up robotic arm was added - the real one could not support its weight in Earth's gravity.

Then a viewing ramp was built to bring visitors almost within arm's reach of the ship that flew NASA's 135th and final shuttle mission in 2011, closing a 30-year chapter in U.S. space history.

"About half our country now is past the age of being around when we walked on the moon," Moore said. "We want to keep a balance between telling the history of how we got here and inspiring people for what the future of space is all about."

The shuttle is accompanied by a high-fidelity mockup of the Hubble Space Telescope. The real telescope's 1990 launch, its repair three years later and four life-extending servicing missions comprise one of the shuttle program's success stories.

Positioned throughout the 90,000-square-foot (8,361-square-meter) building housing Atlantis are interactive exhibits, shuttle hardware, films and other displays that include darker tales, including the shuttle's tortured 12-year development program and the two ships lost in accidents that claimed 14 lives.

"You have to talk about all five shuttles, you can't talk about just three," Moore said. "We don't hide behind those facts. We don't not talk about them."

Before arriving at the Atlantis exhibit, visitors are routed beneath an eye-popping, full-size replica shuttle external fuel tank and twin rocket boosters. The stack stretches 184 feet into the sky.

SISTER SHIPS

Atlantis followed sister ships Discovery and Endeavour into retirement. They, along with the prototype Enterprise, which was used for atmospheric testing before the shuttle's 1981 debut, now draw huge crowds to their respective museums.

Discovery is at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.; Endeavour is at the California Science Center in Los Angeles; and Enterprise is at the Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum in New York.

All 135 shuttle missions were launched from the Kennedy Space Center, which also housed and prepared the ships and their cargo for flight.

The new $100-million Atlantis facility is focused on three main themes. The first is about the engineering and operation of the shuttle, a machine comprising more than 2.5 million hand-made parts.

The second is about the thousands of people who worked on the program over more than 30 years, while the last has to do with the future, perhaps the most challenging part of the exhibit.

NASA is working on a new capsule and rocket to carry astronauts to destinations beyond the International Space Station, a permanently staffed, $100-billion research outpost that flies about 250 miles in space.

The station was pieced together by U.S. space shuttle crews over more than a decade.

But where that rocket and capsule will go and when it will arrive is an ongoing debate. Meanwhile, NASA is hoping to buy rides for its space station crews from private industry by 2017.

The exhibit opens June 29. Ticket prices are $50 for adults and $40 for children aged 3-11, plus tax.

(Editing by David Adams and Paul Simao)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/f_BhHY1N3vQ/story01.htm

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

Analysis: For Obama, a world of Snowden troubles (reuters)

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Militants kill 9 foreign tourists, 1 Pakistani

FILE - In this May 4, 2004 file photo, Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, is seen from Karakorum Highway leading to neighboring China in Pakistan's northern area. Gunmen wearing police uniforms killed 11 foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday, June 23, 2013 as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan, officials said. (AP Photo/Musaf Zaman Kazmi, File)

FILE - In this May 4, 2004 file photo, Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, is seen from Karakorum Highway leading to neighboring China in Pakistan's northern area. Gunmen wearing police uniforms killed 11 foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday, June 23, 2013 as they were visiting one of the world?s highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan, officials said. (AP Photo/Musaf Zaman Kazmi, File)

(AP) ? Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death nine foreign tourists and one Pakistani before dawn Sunday as they were visiting one of the world's highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan, officials said.

The foreigners who were killed included five Ukrainians, three Chinese and one Russian, said Pakistani Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. One Chinese tourist was wounded in the attack and was rescued, he said.

The local branch of the Taliban took responsibility for the killings, saying it was to avenge the death of a leader killed in a drone strike.

The shooting is likely to damage the country's struggling tourism industry. Pakistan's mountainous north ? considered until now relatively safe ? is one of the main attractions in a country beset with insurgency and other political instability.

The attack took place at the base camp of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8,126 meters (26,660 feet). Nanga Parbat is notoriously difficult to climb and is known as the "killer mountain" because of numerous mountaineering deaths in the past. It's unclear if the tourists were planning to climb the mountain or were just visiting the base camp, which is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.

The gunmen were wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police force that patrols the area, said the interior minister. The attackers abducted two local guides to find their way to the remote base camp. One of the guides was killed in the shooting, and the other has been detained and is being questioned, said Khan.

"The government will take all measures to ensure the safety of foreign tourists," said the interior minister in a speech in the National Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the incident.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their Jundul Hafsa group carried out the shooting as retaliation for the death of the Taliban's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman, in a U.S. drone attack on May 29.

"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The attackers beat up the Pakistanis who were accompanying the tourists, took their money and tied them up, said a senior local government official. They checked the identities of the Pakistanis and shot to death one of them, possibly because he was a minority Shiite Muslim, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Although Gilgit-Baltistan is a relatively peaceful area, it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on Shiites in recent years.

The attackers took the money and passports from the foreigners and then gunned them down, said the official. It's unclear how the Chinese tourist who was rescued managed to avoid being killed.

Local police chief Barkat Ali said they first learned of the attack when one of the local guides called the police station around 1 a.m. on Sunday.

The Pakistani government condemned the shooting in a statement sent to reporters.

"The government of Pakistan expresses its deep sense of shock and grief on this brutal act of terrorism, and extends its sympathy to the families of the victims," said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry. "Those who have committed this heinous crime seem to be attempting to disrupt the growing relations of Pakistan with China and other friendly countries."

Pakistan has very close ties with neighboring China and is very sensitive to an issue that could harm the relationship. Pakistani officials have reached out to representatives from China and Ukraine to convey their sympathies, the Foreign Ministry said.

Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the perceived danger of visiting a country that is home to a large number of Islamic militant groups, such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, which mostly reside in the northwest near the Afghan border. But a relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the peaks of the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second highest mountain in the world.

Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, condemned the attack and expressed fear that it would seriously damage the region's tourism industry.

"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Shah. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."

Shah said authorities are still trying to get more information about exactly what happened to the tourists. The area where the attack occurred, Bunar Nala, is only accessible by foot or on horseback, and communications can be difficult, said Shah. Bunar Nala is on one of three routes to reach Nanga Parbat, he said.

The area has been cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers, and a military helicopter is searching the area, said Shah. The military plans to airlift the bodies of the foreign tourists to Islamabad, he said.

"God willing we will find the perpetrators of this tragic incident," said Shah.

The government suspended the top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and has ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.

_____

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-23-Pakistan/id-5ad6a00fb9c343dab318e910b843c237

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