Senate approves Lew as new Treasury chief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jack Lew as President Barack Obama's new Treasury secretary, putting the former White House chief of staff in the middle of a bitter political fight over the government's budget.

Senators backed Lew with a 71-26 vote. All of the chamber's 53 Democrats voted for him. Some Republicans had expressed misgivings about Lew's perks from previous employers Citigroup and New York University.

Lew's most pressing task will be to find a compromise to lessen the economic blow from $85 billion in government spending cuts that are set to kick in on Friday.

But two more budget deadlines will quickly follow. Funds for most government operations expire on March 27, and the national debt will hit the U.S. government's borrowing limit on May 19, setting the stage for a default unless an agreement can be secured to raise the ceiling again.

Lew, who served as Obama's chief of staff before the president named him to succeed Timothy Geithner at the Treasury, has spent much of his career in Washington in public service.

He was previously White House budget director under both Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

By choosing him for the administration's top economic post, Obama signaled the importance he places on Washington's budget battles.

Now that he is confirmed, Lew is expected take the lead on difficult negotiations with Congress on how to trim U.S. budget deficits and keep a lid on $16.6 trillion U.S. national debt.

"If confirmed, we'll be entrusting Mr. Lew to oversee America's economic policy," said Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat who chairs the Finance Committee that vetted Lew for the job. "It is a great responsibility, one I believe Mr. Lew will live up to."

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov and Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-panel-backs-lew-treasury-secretary-013852659--sector.html

madonna half time m.i.a super bowl coin toss best superbowl commercials madonna super bowl halftime kelly clarkson super bowl giants super bowl 2012

Tweets, pics give real-time peek into North Korea

In this Feb. 16, 2013 photo taken with an iPhone and posted to Instagram on Feb. 16 , 2013, North Korean school boys play with an Associated Press photographer's professional camera in front of statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea. On Jan. 18, 2013, foreigners were allowed for the first time to bring mobile phones into North Korea. And this week the local service provider, Koryolink, is allowing foreigners to access the Internet on a data capable 3G connection on mobile phones.(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Feb. 16, 2013 photo taken with an iPhone and posted to Instagram on Feb. 16 , 2013, North Korean school boys play with an Associated Press photographer's professional camera in front of statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea. On Jan. 18, 2013, foreigners were allowed for the first time to bring mobile phones into North Korea. And this week the local service provider, Koryolink, is allowing foreigners to access the Internet on a data capable 3G connection on mobile phones.(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Feb. 20, 2013 photo taken with an iPhone and posted to Instagram on Feb. 21, 2013, North Korean nurses care for infants in cribs inside a maternity hospital, in Pyongyang, North Korea. On Jan. 18, 2013, foreigners were allowed for the first time to bring mobile phones into North Korea. And this week the local service provider, Koryolink, is allowing foreigners to access the Internet on a data capable 3G connection on mobile phones. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Jan. 8, 2013 photo taken with an iPod Touch and posted to instagram on Jan. 8, 2013, North Koreans walk along a Pyongyang street and seen through a coffee shop window curtain. On Jan. 18, 2013, foreigners were allowed for the first time to bring mobile phones into North Korea. And this week the local service provider, Koryolink, is allowing foreigners to access the Internet on a data capable 3G connection on mobile phones. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 photo posted to Instagram on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013, a North Korean guide uses a pointer at the start of a tour of an historic site in Pyongyang. On Jan. 18, 2013, foreigners were allowed for the first time to bring mobile phones into North Korea. And this week the local service provider, Koryolink, is allowing foreigners to access the Internet on a data capable 3G connection on mobile phones. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this photo posted on Instagram, a man walks in Pyongyang, North Korea, under a new roadside banner referring to North Korea's controversial Feb. 12 nuclear test Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. Tweeting and uploading to Instagram is pretty ordinary stuff in the world of social media, but revolutionary for North Korea. (AP Photo/Jean H. Lee)

"Hello world from comms center in (hash)Pyongyang."

That Twitter missive, sent Monday from Koryolink's main service center in downtown Pyongyang using my iPhone, marked a milestone for North Korea: It was believed to be the first tweet sent from a cellphone using the country's new 3G mobile data service.

Later, as we were driving through Pyongyang, I used my iPhone to snap a photo of a new roadside banner referring to North Korea's controversial Feb. 12 nuclear test while AP's Chief Asia Photographer David Guttenfelder uploaded an image to Instagram of a tour guide at a mountain temple, geotagged to Pyongyang.

Pretty ordinary stuff in the world of social media, but revolutionary for North Korea, a country with intricate rules to stage manage the flow of images and information both inside and beyond its borders.

In the past, rules were strict for tourists visiting North Korea. On a bus journey across the Demilitarized Zone into the border city of Kaesong in 2008, we were told: No cellphones, no long camera lenses, no shooting photos without permission. The curtains were drawn to prevent us from looking outside as we drove through the countryside, and through the cracks we could see soldiers stationed along the road with red flags. We were warned they'd raise those flags and stop the bus for inspection if they spotted a camera pointed out the window. As we left North Korea, immigration officials went through our cameras, clicking through the photos to make sure we weren't taking home any images that were objectionable.

In 2009, I did not offer up my iPhone as we went through customs. But to no avail. The eagle-eyed officer dug deep into the pocket where I'd tucked the phone away, wagged his finger and slipped the phone into a little black bag. No phone, no address book, no music: It was as though I'd left the modern world behind at Sunan airport and stepped back in time to a seemingly prehistoric analog era.

Eventually, Guttenfelder and I settled into a working routine. We'd leave our cellphones at the airport but use locally purchased phones with SIM cards provided by Koryolink, the joint Egyptian-North Korean cellphone venture that established a 3G network in 2008, but without data. We brought iPod Touches and connected to the world, including Twitter, using broadband Internet that may be installed on request at our hotel, which is for international visitors.

We knew in January that change was afoot. "Bring your own phone next time," a Koryolink saleswoman told me at the airport as we were departing. The next day, the longstanding rule of requiring visitors to relinquish their phones was gone.

But we were waiting for the day when Koryolink would begin offering mobile Internet, and hounded the Egyptians posted to North Korea from Orascom Telecom Media and Technology for news.

"Soon," they kept telling us.

Last week, they called with good news: 3G mobile Internet would be available within a week ? only for foreigners.

All we had to do when we arrived in February was show our passports, fill out a registration form, provide our phones' IMEI numbers and pop in our Koryolink SIM cards. It's a costly luxury: SIM cards are 50 euros, or about $70, and while calls to Switzerland are an inexplicably cheap 38 euro cents a minute, calls to the U.S. cost about $8 a minute.

After reporting last week on the imminent availability of 3G mobile Internet, we turned up at the Koryolink offices Monday to be among the first ones to activate the service.

After paying a steep 75-euro fee and sending a text to activate the service, we waited for the 3G symbol to pop up on our phones.

Moments later, I sent the inaugural tweet, which was queued up and ready to go. There was a little celebration that morning in the Koryolink office among the Egyptians who labored to set up the service and their North Korean partners.

Our North Korean colleagues watched with surprise as we showed them we could surf the Internet from our phones.

Koreans, North and South, love gadgets.

Not all North Koreans have local cellphones. Those who do use them to call colleagues to arrange work meetings, phone and text friends to set up dinner dates and ring home to check in on their babies. They snap photos with their phones and swap MP3s. They read North Korean books and the Workers' Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, on their phones.

But they cannot surf the "international" Internet, as they call it. The World Wide Web remains strictly off limits for most North Koreans. North Korean universities have their own fairly sophisticated Intranet system, though the material posted to it is closely vetted by authorities and hews to propaganda. Students say they can email one another, but they can't send emails outside the country.

Leader Kim Jong Un has pushed science and technology as major policy directives, and we're starting to see more laptops in North Korean offices. The new Samjiyon tablet computer, made in China for the North Korean market, was sold out when I last checked at a local computer shop.

Even during the days when no mobile data were available, Guttenfelder figured out a way to activate Wi-Fi sharing among his laptop, iPod touch and iPhone, and began posting geotagged pictures to Instagram. Using Loopcam, I began uploading small GIF videos that have the feel of an old-fashioned flipbook, giving movement and life to the scene on the street.

These are snapshots captured as we go about our daily life working in North Korea: a man getting a haircut at a barber shop, traffic cops lacing up ice skates, a villager hauling a bundle of firewood on her back as she trudges through a snowy field. Some are quirky, unexpected things that catch our attention: a blinking Christmas tree in February, the cartoon "Madagascar" showing on state TV, a basket of baguettes at the supermarket.

And some are politically telling: the empty highway from Pyongyang, people piling onto trucks for transportation, postcards showing soldiers attacking Americans, banners praising the scientists who sent a rocket into space. Despite the new construction, gadgets and consumer goods, North Korea is still grappling with grave economic hardship. It's a society governed by a web of strict rules and regulations, a nation wary of the outside world.

Often, they are images, videos and details that may not make it onto the AP's products but provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a country largely hidden from view even in our globalized, interconnected world. They help give a sense of the feel, smell and look of the place away from the pomp of the orchestrated events shown by the state media. It is a way for us to share what we see, large and small, during our long stays in a nation off limits to most Western journalists and still largely a mystery, even to us.

On Monday evening, while discussing how to cover the arrival of ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman and describing his array of tattoos and nose rings, we did what wasn't possible in the past: We Googled him from a local restaurant.

Twenty-four hours later, Rodman himself appeared to be online and tweeting from North Korea.

"I come in peace. I love the people of North Korea!" he wrote.

___

Jean H. Lee is the AP's bureau chief for North Korea and South Korea, and has made more than 20 trips to North Korea since 2008. Follow (at)newsjean on Twitter, Loopcam and Instagram. Follow (at)dguttenfelder on Twitter and Instagram.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-02-27-Tweeting%20in%20North%20Korea/id-53d1a9f99c78429393d2e7534f2af57c

John Witherspoon george michael usain bolt Closing Ceremony London 2012 Tom Daley Leryn Franco The Campaign

U.S. Senate approves Lew as Treasury chief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jack Lew as President Barack Obama's new Treasury secretary, putting the former White House chief of staff in the middle of political brawls over the government's budget.

Senators backed Lew 71-26, with all 53 Democrats voting in favor.

Lew's most pressing task will be to find a compromise to lessen the economic blow from $85 billion in government spending cuts set to kick in on Friday.

But two more deadlines will quickly follow. Funds for most government operations expire on March 27, and the U.S. government is expected to hit its legal borrowing limit on May 19, setting the stage for a default unless an agreement can be secured to raise the debt ceiling again.

Lew was Obama's chief of staff before the president named him to succeed Timothy Geithner at the Treasury, and has spent much of his career in Washington in public service. He was previously White House budget director under Obama and former President Bill Clinton.

"As my chief of staff, Jack was by my side as we confronted our nation's toughest challenges," Obama said after the Senate vote. "His reputation as a master of fiscal issues who can work with leaders on both sides of the aisle has already helped him succeed in some of the toughest jobs in Washington."

Lew is expected take the lead on difficult talks with Congress on how to trim U.S. budget deficits and keep a lid on $16.6 trillion U.S. national debt.

STAFF MENTALITY?

Lew, 57, led talks with Congress in 2011 that averted a U.S. debt default. At the time, he antagonized Republicans and even some Democrats with his unwavering defense of government-run benefit programs.

His status as an Obama confidant may give him more authority in representing the administration during fiscal talks. But his close relationship with the White House has also raised some hackles.

"He's got a political staff mentality, not an august, independent personality of leadership," said Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, who had pressed lawmakers to vote against Lew.

During the confirmation process, Lew also had to confront questions about his investment in the Cayman Islands tax haven and a nearly $1 million bonus he received from Citigroup in 2009, just before the bank got a taxpayer-funded bailout.

And Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa berated Lew for not disclosing more details about a $1.4 million loan he received while working as an executive with New York University.

LONG TO-DO LIST

Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the Democrat who chairs the Finance Committee, had wondered if Lew had sufficient gravitas to be the chief U.S. economic spokesman during a committee hearing this month.

But he later endorsed Lew for the post, commending his commitment to bipartisanship.

"If confirmed, we'll be entrusting Mr. Lew to oversee America's economic policy," Baucus said before the Senate vote. "It is a great responsibility, one I believe Mr. Lew will live up to."

Lawmakers in both parties praised Lew when he said revamping the byzantine U.S. tax code would be a top priority. But prospects for achieving tax reform are clouded by Washington's constant fiscal fights.

The new secretary also will also have to deal with the growing clout of China.

He has pledged to press the world's second-largest economy to further loosen its currency restrictions. Lawmakers have complained China keeps the value of the yuan artificially low to boost its exports, hurting American manufacturers.

Other delicate tasks for Lew include implementing new financial regulations and finding a way to wind down government-controlled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have drawn almost $190 billion from the Treasury.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov and Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-senate-approves-lew-treasury-chief-014649331--sector.html

callista rick perry travis barker get back on board rob lowe peyton manning what is sopa marianne gingrich

Non-brittle glass possible: In probing mysteries of glass, researchers find a key to toughness

Feb. 26, 2013 ? In a paper published online Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Communications, a Yale University team and collaborators propose a way of predicting whether a given glass will be brittle or ductile -- a desirable property typically associated with metals like steel or aluminum -- and assert that any glass could have either quality.

Ductility refers to a material's plasticity, or its ability to change shape without breaking.

"Most of us think of glasses as brittle, but our finding shows that any glass can be made ductile or brittle," said Jan Schroers, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Yale, who led the research with Golden Kumar, a professor at Texas Tech University. "We identified a special temperature that tells you whether you form a ductile or brittle glass."

The key to forming a ductile glass, they said, is cooling it fast. Exactly how fast depends on the nature of the specific glass.

Focusing on a new group of glasses known as bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) -- metal alloys, or blends, that can be extremely pliable yet also as strong as steel -- researchers studied the effect of a so-called critical fictive temperature (CFT) on the glasses' mechanical properties at room temperature.

When forming from liquid, there is a temperature at which glass becomes too viscous for reconfiguration and freezes. This temperature is called the glass transition temperature. Based on experiments with three representative bulk metallic glasses, the researchers said there is also, for each distinct alloy, a critical temperature that determines the brittleness or plasticity of the glass. This is the CFT.

Researchers said it's possible to categorize glasses in two groups -- those that will be brittle because in liquid form their CFT is above the glass transition temperature, and those that will be ductile, because in liquid form their CFT is below the glass transition temperature.

They previously thought a liquid's chemical composition alone would determine whether a glass would be brittle or ductile.

"That's not the case," Schroers said. "We can make any glass theoretically ductile or brittle. And it is the critical fictive temperature which determines how experimentally difficult it is to make a ductile glass. That is the major contribution of this work."

The finding applies theoretically to all glasses, not metallic glasses only, he said.

"A glass can have completely different properties depending on the rate at which you cool it," Schroers said. "If you cool it fast, it is very ductile, and if you cool it slow it?s very brittle. We anticipate that our finding will contribute to the design of ductile glasses, and in general contribute to a deeper understanding of glass formation."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Yale University. The original article was written by Eric Gershon.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Golden Kumar, Pascal Neibecker, Yan Hui Liu, Jan Schroers. Critical fictive temperature for plasticity in metallic glasses. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1536 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2546

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/IAkXMDL7waM/130226114023.htm

samuel adams snowy owl one for the money 10 minute trainer sarah burke death etta james funeral erin brockovich

Meet the Symbiote: The Ironclad, Adaptable Future of Antivirus Protection

Ang Cui has a lot of power. With enough time he can take control of pretty much any networked device. He could watch you through your iSight or track the Netflix on your smart TV. But he has bigger fish to fry, so your Catfish marathons are safe for now. From him, at least. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eXg4hsWgzWM/meet-the-symbiote-the-ironclad-adaptable-future-of-antivirus-protection

national enquirer kate gosselin helicopter crash matt jones whitney houston in casket photo resolute national enquirer whitney houston casket photo

New Infrared Tech Will Let Firemen See Through Flames

Firefighters will actually be able to see through flames thanks to infrared hologram technology, a new study in Italy has found. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/w3h80fS3IBc/new-infrared-tech-will-let-firemen-see-through-flames

wichita brian wilson storm chasers david blaine gotye divine mercy cabin in the woods

Asia shares slip, EU bourses set to slide on Italy vote

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares declined on Tuesday and the euro hit its lowest in nearly seven weeks against the dollar as an apparently deadlocked election in Italy raised the spectre of a resurgent euro zone debt crisis.

Italy's main FTSE MIB stock market index is expected to open down 2.5 percent, while other European markets are also seen slumping with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open down as much as 2.6 percent. U.S. stock futures were flat to suggest a cautious Wall Street start.

"There's a possibility that the Italians might be heading back to the polls. In the short term, investors and traders don't like the uncertainty," said Ben Le Brun, market analyst at OptionsXpress in Sydney.

Italy's centre-left coalition will win a majority in the lower house of parliament but the upper house will be deadlocked, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday after almost all votes were counted. No party or coalition won a majority of seats in the Senate, which a government would need to pass legislation.

A split parliament in the euro zone's third-largest economy is seen as likely to paralyse any new government and potentially reignite the euro-zone debt crisis.

"Financial markets will now have to take at face value the idea that the protest vote can actually attain an overall majority in some parts of Europe's legislatures. This is indeed a worrying development and one that should rattle financial markets for some time to come," Westpac said in a note.

The yen and the euro stabilised and Asia's overall equities losses were less severe than U.S. benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index which suffered its worst one-day percentage decline since November 7 with a 1.8 percent tumble on Monday.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 0.9 percent. Australian shares slipped 1 percent, South Korean shares eased 0.4 percent while Hong Kong shed 0.8 percent to test a new 2012 low. Shanghai shares outperformed Asian peers after official media dispelled monetary tightening fears.

Southeast Asian shares, which have hit record highs recently, posted a larger drop, with the Philippines plunging 1.2 percent after a record finish on Monday and Indonesian stocks tumbling 0.9 percent after also closing at a record on Monday.

U.S. crude slid 0.8 percent to $92.34 a barrel and Brent fell 0.7 percent to $113.61.

Spot gold inched down 0.2 percent to $1,591.01 an ounce, but London copper edged up 0.3 percent to $7,862 a tonne.

"Volatile overnight markets discouraged those who had not been able to buy at the dips, while a lack of clear direction as well as growing risks have also reduced incentives for investors to venture out into the markets," said Tetsu Emori, a commodities fund manager at Astmax Investments in Tokyo.

YEN FIRMING HALTS

The yen resumed its retreat after firming sharply on Monday when nervousness about Italy exposed the yen to sharp reversals from its recent steep losses on bets of aggressive reflationary monetary policy in Japan.

The yen traded down 0.2 percent against the dollar at 91.93 after gaining 2 percent to 90.85 on Monday from its intraday low of 94.77 touched earlier in the day, its lowest since May 2010. The yen was also down 0.3 percent against the euro to 119.99 after jumping more than 3 percent to 118.74 on Monday from its day's low of 125.36.

The yen's overnight appreciation hit Japan's Nikkei stock average, with the index tumbling 2.3 percent after closing at a 53-month high the day before.

Traders said the plunge in the dollar and the euro against the Japanese currency has provided fresh opportunities to buy these currencies against the yen, with many market players still seeing a weak yen trend continuing.

But the euro fell to its lowest in nearly seven weeks at $1.3042 on jitters that political gridlock in Italy will hamper the country's efforts to reform and slash its debts.

"Uncertainty over the Italian election outcome and its impact will certainty keep the euro under strong pressure for some time," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo.

"A safety net has been provided over the past year in the euro zone and given the size of Italy's economy, I doubt that the situation will turn into a disaster, but we need to carefully monitor developments. It revives memories of risks in the euro zone," Saito added.

The focus will now be on an Italian treasury bill auction on Tuesday when borrowing costs could rise, given the Senate election result.

Investors also await testimony later in the day from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for further clues to when the Fed intends to slow down or stop its bond-buying programme.

Financial markets were rattled last week by minutes of the Fed's January meeting showing some Fed officials were mulling scaling back its strong monetary stimulus earlier than expected.

Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said on Monday that U.S. economic growth could surpass expectations this year, but an anaemic labour market requires ongoing support from monetary policy.

The United States also faces downside risks to its economy if $85 billion in government-wide "sequestration" spending cuts go ahead on March 1.

(Additional reporting by Manolo SerapiThuy Ong in Sydney; Editing by Eric Meijer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-shares-decline-deadlocked-italy-election-033722567--finance.html

bret michaels pekingese tcu football westminster bonnaroo 2012 lineup twisted metal sea lion

Nuqul Automotive interacts with employees through live ... - AME Info

The event was attended by over 20 female representatives from Nuqul Automotive's departments.

The trainer Hussam Al Masri, Audi Service Advisor, interacted with the participants and went over the mechanics of the car while focusing on repairing a punctured wheel among other maintenance related tasks.

Ms. Taleen Khzouz, Corporate Communications Manager at Nuqul Automotive commenced the event by welcoming all participants and commented, "This exercise is a great way for females in the automotive industry to gain knowledge about the mechanics of their cars in addition to identifying what their car needs in terms of maintenance and other related services that will ensure a safe driving experience."

Khzouz added, "we plan to carry out similar sessions in the future and we will build on this technical experience to make sure we practice what we preach in the automotive industry."

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/nuqul-automotive-interacts-employees-live-nuqul-331191

mexico city earthquake stand your ground law dancing with the stars season 14 david garrard michael bay ninja turtles san antonio weather mike daisey

Slickdeals' best in tech for February 25th: Canon EOS 6D bundle and Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13

Looking to save some coin on your tech purchases? Of course you are! In this round-up, we'll run down a list of the freshest frugal buys, hand-picked with the help of the folks at Slickdeals. You'll want to act fast, though, as many of these offerings won't stick around long.

Ready your wallets, folks, because we've got a slew of stellar picks to start the week. A Canon EOS 6D bundle and Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 make it through the vetting process while a Dell monitor and 55-inch Samsung 3D HDTV also get the call. The full list awaits past the break alongside links that are eager to accept your funds.

Filed under: Cameras, Displays, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Laptops

Comments

Source: Slickdeals

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qDYj2dGHvdw/

blake griffin pau gasol marlins park marbury v. madison 2013 lincoln mkz burger king mary j blige google project glass

High court to review Kansas sheriff's killing (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287256212?client_source=feed&format=rss

roy williams matt lauer divine mercy chaplet albert pujols the shining mariano rivera mariano rivera

Microsoft To Refund Windows Azure Customers Hit By 12 Hour Outage That Disrupted Xbox Live

Microsoft will refund Windows Azure customers impacted by an outage last week caused by an expired SSL certificate. In a brief blog post, General Manager Steven Martin cited the scope of the attack as the reason for refund.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/PGGfryMwHqw/

melissa gilbert dancing with the stars dandelion wine cough matt groening brandon phillips summerfest summerfest

Cap on charges lowered for some pensions

LONDON (Reuters) - Britons with private pensions that are part of an industry benchmark could see their final savings boosted by up to 8 percent after the amount of fees and charges levied on their pension pots was capped at 0.75 percent a year.

The Pension Quality Mark (PQM), which has over 170 pension schemes covering more than 300,000 members, has lowered its cap on annual charges and fees from 1 percent of the total value of an individuals' pension pot, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said on Monday.

Private pension firms have been accused of failing to disclose some of the costs they levy on customers' investment funds, leaving people unaware that their pension savings were being eroded by the fees.

The average annual management charge on a workplace pension scheme is 0.77 percent, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

So-called defined contribution pension schemes, which offer less certainty for employees than schemes linked to their salaries, have become the norm for many workers as UK employers seek to reduce their exposure to costly salary-related schemes.

The government-backed "auto-enrolment" initiative is also expected to add up to 11 million extra people into workplace pension schemes - the vast majority being defined contribution plans.

Government and industry watchdogs have been pressing for greater transparency of pension charges after the auto-enrolment scheme started in October 2012.

In January, the ABI said it would force its pension and insurance company members that run some of the UK's biggest pension schemes to reveal fees and charges taken from employees' retirement pots.

The size of an employee's pension under a defined contribution scheme is determined by the size of contributions made into the pension, the performance of the investments in the scheme and the cost of an annuity at retirement.

The PQM was launched by the NAPF in September 2009, with pension schemes such as the BBC, L'Oreal and PepsiCo all signed up to the benchmark.

Pension contributions under PQM must equal at least 10 percent of an employee's salary, with a minimum employer contribution of 6 percent of salary.

The NAPF said the change would come into force in April 2013.

(Reporting by Sarah Mortimer; Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cap-charges-lowered-pensions-151258306--sector.html

channel 2 news adrienne bailon yelp stock honda classic news channel 5 nashville weather jason varitek

Hackers target visitors to NBC's site

NBC.com has been found to harbor the RedKit browser exploit kit, which can deliver malware to vulnerable computers.?

By Paul Wagenseil,?TechNewsDaily / February 22, 2013

Jane Krakowski and Jimmy Fallon in a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show.

Virginia Sherwood/NBCU Photo Bank/AP

Enlarge

The main website for the NBC television network, NBC.com, was found yesterday to have been hacked so that it infected unsuspecting visitors.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

Specifically, it harbored the RedKit browser exploit kit, which triggers?drive-by downloads?of malware onto vulnerable computers.

The hack was one of a trio of security breaches yesterday, as the Aspen Institute think tank and the customer-support specialist Zendesk disclosed hacker intrusions into their networks.

NBC's problems arose when the head of Dutch security firm Fox-IT?tweeted his observations?about NBC.com, followed quickly by a posting on the?HitmanPro blog?run by the Dutch anti-virus firm SurfRight.

"There were two exploit links on the NBC website. The first one was on the main default (entry) page. And the second one was located on hxxp://www.nbc.com/assets/core/js/s_wrapper.js," said the HitmanPro blog. "It serves both Java (CVE-2013-0422) and PDF exploits. The exploit drops the Citadel Trojan, which is used for banking fraud and cyberespionage."

The?Java exploit?referred to, which affects Macs, Windows PCs and Linux boxes alike, was responsible for the recently announced hacks into Apple's, Facebook's and Twitter's employee networks.

[Why and How to Disable Java on Your Computer]

The HitmanPro posting noted that RedKit was also installing the ZeroAccess malware, which "moderates an affected user's Internet experience by modifying search results, and generates pay-per-click advertising revenue for its controllers," as well an unknown form of malware.

Stand-alone NBC TV network sites, such as those for "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" and one featuring "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno's collection of vintage cars, were also said to be compromised.

An NBC spokeswoman?confirmed the hacks to Bloomberg News. All the affected sites were cleaned and back up Friday morning.

(The NBCNews.com website, with which TechNewsDaily has a professional relationship, was not affected.)

Copyright 2013?TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/C_kLgwhVtAw/Hackers-target-visitors-to-NBC-s-site

victoria azarenka Royal Rumble 2013 senior bowl norovirus Coachella 2013 Eclampsia Kendrick Lamar

Video: Are video games, violence and mental illness connected? (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/287093327?client_source=feed&format=rss

carlos santana dodgers triple play baa samoyed kenny powers kenny powers carl hagelin

WINDOWS 8 - tattoo's

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/behance/vorr/~3/NjtGGwN8kpM/6624085

tcu football westminster bonnaroo 2012 lineup twisted metal sea lion si swimsuit 2012 westminster dog show

The 15th-Century Equivalent of Your Cat Walking on Your Keyboard

For youtube videos, paste embed code directly in the text box

- Notify me by email when future posts are made
Email:
Members do not need to provide an address

- Preview before posting

Rate Article

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Total votes: 0 Select Comment Validation Method
Member
Name/URL (Guest)
FaceBook (Guest) Member Commenting:

Authenticate with Facebook before submitting

OR

Login: Password:

Make your LabSpaces comments count. Start earning LabSpaces points by becoming a member! Learn more. Name: Link:(Link to your site or blog) Please verify that you are human: Register for LabSpaces
Make your LabSpaces comments count. Start earning LabSpaces points by becoming a member! Learn more.

Please authenticate before trying to post a comment.

If you would like to remain anonymous, please enter a new name and link below

Name: Link:(Link to your site or blog)

Friends

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126924/The___th_Century_Equivalent_of_Your_Cat_Walking_on_Your_Keyboard

Beyonce Superbowl weather.com

Game Review: Toc Toc Woodman - Blogcritics Gaming

Created by Korean game designer Justin Oh, the mind behind Gemblo, Toc Toc Woodman from Mayday Games takes "deconstruction games" to a whole new level of precision. While games such as Jenga have players carefully use their fingers to manipulate the tower by gently and dexterously removing pieces, Toc Toc Woodman has players use a tool, making a new game of precision, hand-eye coordination, and nimbleness.

The game is composed of plastic pieces stacked on a model tree stump. Dark brown "bark" pieces fit into the blonde "core" pieces, creating a tree-shaped tower. Players then take the plastic axe and are given two whacks to knock off bark while attempting not to knock off the cores. Bark pieces are worth one point, while core pieces are worth minus five points. Whatever falls during a turn is counted, meaning players may end up with a negative score. The rules are simple and the cover deceptively cartoony, but this game is one of meticulous focus.

Like most skill games, Toc Toc Woodman is deceptively hard. This may seem like a negative to players who want their games light, but it serves as a great game for deconstruction enthusiasts such as yours truly. There are innumerable methods for strategy. Some might play conservatively, collecting one or two points at a time. Others could play more aggressively, hoping to cash in on more bark pieces than cores. Still others might try to knock lower pieces loose to trip up other players down the road, giving them an easily beaten negative score. The axe itself serves as another choice of precision: whether to use the rounded edge or the weightier flat end. Of course, even the best laid plans can be fouled by a slip of hand.

Source: http://blogcritics.org/gaming/article/game-review-toc-toc-woodman/

Paula Broadwell Tilted Kilt Barbara Palvin Yahoo Fantasy Football Nick Foles Auguste Rodin Breaking Amish

Monsanto, Myriad: Two US Legal Cases Shaking Biotechnology ...

The biotechnology industry has growing concerns over decisions to be taken this year by the United States Supreme Court in two cases involving the patenting of human genes and the exhaustion of patent rights in the context of easily reproducible products. Several areas of biotechnology could be affected by unfavourable decisions, provoking legal uncertainty and discouraging innovation, industry representatives said in a recent telephone conference. In the meantime, civil society stands fast in opposition.

On 14 February, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) organised a telephone conference to present ?the broad-reaching impacts and implications of these two very different cases, each of which presents distinct questions of patent law that could affect the future of innovation in biotechnology.?

The two cases are Bowman v. Monsanto Co, and Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (IPW, US Policy, 11 January 2013).

The first case involves Vernon Bowman, a 75-year old farmer from Indiana. He was sued by Monsanto for infringing the company?s patents by planting a second generation of patented genetically-modified soybean plants. In their amicus curiae brief, Bowman?s lawyers explained that the farmer, in 2007, said? he bought soybeans from an elevator for planting and he did not know what variety? he had planted. The patent question is whether or not Monsanto?s patent rights in the seeds were exhausted after Bowman purchased them.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in this case on 19 February.

According to Hans Sauer, deputy general counsel for intellectual property at BIO, biotech companies are not concerned about what Bowman did but about the implications the case could have. The question is about biotech products is that they are easily replicable but difficult to create, he said.

This question applies to other biotech companies, not just the seed business, he said, such as live vaccines, synthetic cell lines, and stem cells, because those products are easily replicable. Small companies would particularly be exposed, he said. Bringing a new product to market entails a 5- to 10-year endeavour and millions of dollars. Legal uncertainty would raise ?huge problems? for them to find capital and partners, Sauer said.

Agriculture is at the cutting edge of technology, said Gary Baise, counsel of record for the American Soybean Association, which filed an amicus curiae brief[pdf], along with some other national associations, such as corn, wheat and sugarbeet, asking that the judgment of the US Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit be upheld. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Monsanto.

?Plant biotechnology is the future of American agriculture,? the amicus curiae brief said. IP is key to the industry and has generated major advances, said Baise, contributing to cost reduction, but also helping protect the environment, and reducing pollution and climate change.

He said farmers were prepared to pay more for patented seeds as since the introduction of biotechnology, the productivity ?has risen enormously,? and farmland value has ?skyrocketed in the US.?

Scott McBride, counsel of record for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, who submitted an amicus curiae brief [pdf] said the case had particular importance with regards to technology transfer, as a reversal of the previous judgment could impact the benefits to the public provided by the Bayh-Dole Act.

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 allowed universities conducting research with government funding to obtain specific rights in the inventions coming out of this research, and encouraged technology transfer from universities.

?Reversal in this case would weaken patent rights for artificial, progenitive [able to reproduce itself] technologies and upset the flourishing innovation system created by US patent law through the Bayh-Dole Act and technology transfer organisations,? says the amicus curiae brief. The fact that the Supreme Court took the case surprised many in the industry, he said.

Christopher Holman, from the University of Missouri, drew an analogy between the case and copyright law as applied to software and digital content. Unlike most inventions, Monsanto seeds are susceptible to duplication, he said, and the problem is that a small number of originals can provide an unlimited number of perfect copies, the same as for encoded music, he added.

Myriad Case: Broad Impact Feared by Industry

The other case is Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics in which the Supreme Court has to decide on the patentability of human genes (IPW, US Policy, 21 December 2012).

According to Sauer, the Myriad case is about a much broader proposition on the patentability of products modelled after products that can be found in nature, such as antibiotics, purified proteins, flavouring, fragrances, dyes, and enzymes.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which filed the lawsuit with the Public Patent Foundation has ?deliberately chosen a legal theory that will have the broadest possible impact on the patent system as a whole,? he said. They are urging a legal theory that would strike down a large number of patents that are under the same legal theory than Myriad, he added. Thousands of patents are involved, he said, and BIO members are very concerned about the legal theory that is at play.

According to Holman, one of the major problems is the scope of the patent claim. The Myriad case is going to the Supreme Court, but ?the lower courts dealing with this case have not done the job of figuring out what the claim actually covers,? he said. This has led to a lot of confusion and misinformation, as ?there is some unwarranted assumption that any sort of gene patent covers any sort of use, or research, which is not the case at all,? he added.

The Supreme Court is scheduled [pdf] to hear oral arguments in the case on 15 April.

Civil Society Different Stand on Both Cases

On the Bowman case, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) said in its amicus curiae brief that the Court of Appeal?s decision created an exemption from patent exhaustion for self-replicating technologies that departs from the established law and sound patent policy.

?The doctrine of exhaustion provides a necessary limit on the ability of patentees to pervert markets beyond the scope of their patents. Sophisticated patent owners like Monsanto can be expected to take limits on their patent rights, including exhaustion, into account when designing their business models,? they said in their brief.

In its amicus curiae brief[pdf], Knowledge Ecology International said the patent exhaustion doctrine has existed in the US for over 150 years. An exception for self-replicating technologies ? creating inexhaustible patent rights, will harm downstream users who may have no notice that they are using patented technology,? they said.

In the Myriad case, KEI said in its amicus curiae brief [pdf]? that ?By design, gene patents are used to block secondary testing as well as research and development on diseases or diagnostics related to the patented sequences.?

?The negative impact of patents has been justified on the grounds that they are the only instrument that can adequately protect investments in research and development for new medical technologies. This assumption is false and a wide range of public policy instruments ? are either currently in use, or have been proposed, to stimulate research and development for new medical products,? they said.

Agrichemical Companies Going after Farmers, Report Says

In the meantime, the Center for Food Safety and Save Our Seeds (SOS) on 12 February issued a report titled ?Seed Giants vs. U.S. Farmers?[pdf]. The report says that, ?Agrichemical companies devote ?significant resources toward investigating and prosecuting farmers for

alleged seed patent violations.? Their investigations and lawsuits, the report says, ? reflect a David versus Goliath scenario? as most farmers do not have the means to get legal representation and are ?often forced to accept confidential out-of-court settlements.?

As of December 2012, Monsanto had filed 142 alleged seed patent infringement lawsuits involving 410 farmers and 56 small farm businesses in 27 US states, the two non-governmental organisations said, alleging that sums awarded to Monsanto in 72 recorded judgments exceed US$ 23 million.

Monsanto is not alone is that fight. The report says DuPont ?hired at least 45 farm investigators in 2012 to examine planting and purchasing records of Canadian farmers and to take samples from their fields to send to DuPont for genetic analysis.?

?USDA data show that since the introduction of GE [genetically engineered] seed, the average cost of soybean seed to plant one acre has risen by a dramatic 325 percent,? with similar trends for corn and cotton seeds. The report also says that agronomists around the world are worried about a ?growing epidemic of weeds that have evolved resistance to glyphosate.?

According to the report, ?To exert greater control over their patented material, seed companies rely on contracts with farmers known as technology use agreements. These agreements include a variety of provisions that require company access to farmers? records, dictate farming practices, and open the door for on-site investigations.

The ongoing case of Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association v. Monsanto filed by PUBPAT, about farmers concerned about being sued because of genetically modified organisms contamination of their fields, had been dismissed in February 2012, following a motion to dismiss filed by Monsanto. The case has been taken to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which scheduled oral arguments to be heard on 10 January 2013. The transcript of the oral arguments is here.

A decision is expected in spring of 2013 (IPW, IP Law, 30 March 2011).

All amicus curiae briefs in the Bowman v. Monsanto case and the amicus curiae briefs in the Myriad case can be found on the Supreme Court of the US Blog, Scotusblog.

Source: http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/02/18/monsanto-myriad-two-us-legal-cases-shaking-biotechnology-industries/

magic johnson jetblue pilot solicitor general neighborhood watch dennis rodman dodgers sale tami roman

White House tries to keep immigration on track

President Barack Obama speaks about the sequester, as he stands with emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama speaks about the sequester, as he stands with emergency responders, a group of workers the White House says could be affected if state and local governments lose federal money as a result of budget cuts, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

In this photo taken Feb. 7, 2013, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Barack Obama?s ?backup? immigration bill may have angered Republicans but it could spur GOP lawmakers to rally behind a similar plan of their own rather than support legislation with Obama?s name attached. Although a key Republican says Obama's draft bill injects partisanship into the process, all parties say bipartisan talks are moving forward. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House on Tuesday sought to keep delicate immigration negotiations on track, as a key Republican senator distanced himself further from a draft bill President Barack Obama's aides are readying in case congressional talks crumble.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's office said Obama's plan "injected additional partisanship into an already difficult process." The White House, following the weekend leak of its draft legislation, insisted the president wants the bipartisan Senate group Rubio is a member of to put forward its own bill instead.

Obama spoke with Rubio on Tuesday to reiterate his commitment to the Senate process and to make clear that he had his own legislation ready, the White House said. The president also called Republicans Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, two other GOP lawmakers involved in the immigration negotiations.

"It is, by far, the president's preference that the Senate process move forward, that the bipartisan group of eight have success, and that they produce a bill that wins the support of Democrats and Republicans in Senate," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Senate aides said privately Tuesday that bipartisan negotiations are in a good place and they did not feel as though the disclosure of details in Obama's draft bill would disrupt their process. In fact, Obama's backup bill could end up spurring GOP lawmakers to rally behind a congressional plan with many similarities rather than support legislation attached to the president.

While they differ on some key details, both sides are contemplating legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for most of the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S., tighten border security, crack down on businesses that employ illegal workers and strengthen the legal immigration system.

Rubio, a rising Republican star and favorite of his party's conservative wing, has particular incentive to publicly disavow Obama's proposals.

As one of his party's leading voices on immigration, Rubio will be called on to sell other conservatives on any deal and he knows that doing so will be harder if that deal has the president's stamp on it. He'll also have to convince Republicans that a bipartisan Senate agreement would be more conservative than what Obama would propose on his own.

Rubio's office, trying to further distance itself from the White House, insisted Tuesday that the senator's team had not been in talks with the administration on immigration. But Rubio spokesman Alex Conant later said that a representative from the senator's office participated in five meetings with administration officials.

Administration officials said they were willing to take hits from the Florida lawmaker if doing so gave him the cover to work with Senate Democrats to reach a deal.

"As long as Sen. Rubio and the rest of the gang are making real progress on immigration reform, we are happy to be on the sidelines and even serve as a punching bag every once in a while," Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's senior adviser, said.

The White House insisted it did not intentionally leak details of its immigration plan, which circulated widely at key government agencies. Top Obama aides tried to clear up the mess over the weekend, sending apologetic emails to the offices of the eight senators, including Rubio, at the center of the Capitol Hill negotiations.

Obama officials say the documents represent draft proposals, not a final bill. The president and his aides have repeatedly said publicly that the White House was readying legislation and would submit it to Congress if the Senate process stalls.

The draft White House proposal and the principles outlined by the Senate group overlap in many areas, though there are some key differences.

The administration's draft proposal would create a visa for those in the country illegally and allow them to become legal permanent residents within about eight years as part of a broader pathway to citizenship. The Senate group is looking at a 10-year timeline before people already in the U.S. illegally could get green cards.

While Obama's proposal calls for more funding for securing the border, it does not make border security a pre-condition for opening a pathway to citizenship. The Senate group's principles would require a border security trigger, though it's unclear how they would define a secure border.

Rubio's office has also criticized the president's proposals for not including a guest worker program or a plan for dealing with the future flow of immigrants.

Officials say the White House has not set a deadline for when the president would choose to abandon the Senate process and send his bill to Capitol Hill. Senate lawmakers have raised the prospect of drafting a bill next month.

Hanging over the entire immigration debate in Washington is a changed political landscape that gives Hispanics more influence in national politics than ever before. Hispanics made up 10 percent of the electorate in the November presidential election and Obama won more two-thirds of their votes, causing many Republican lawmakers to rethink their opposition to immigration reform.

Immigration advocates have vowed to keep reminding GOP lawmakers of the growing political power of Hispanic voters.

"You can choose not to do it, you can choose inaction, but keep in mind that the Latino community is not going to forget," said Eliseo Medina, an immigration advocate and labor leader at the Service Employees International Union.

"If the Senate blocks it, then get prepared for 2014," he added, referring to next year's congressional elections.

___

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-19-Immigration/id-bb7eff2348ff469393e2ed607e866403

moratorium dwts season 14 cast leap day michigan primary results olympia snowe davey jones dead monsanto

Canonical delivers Ubuntu Touch for tablets

The countdown timer on the Ubuntu website has ended, and Canonical has made Ubuntu for tablets official. With the tablet version, Ubuntu now scales across just about every screen and device you could imagine, from your smartphone all the way up to your television -- each with their own unique UI additions to make for a simple, yet elegant solution for your computing needs. 

The new tablet design is built on the very same Ubuntu core as the rest of the product line, with an emphasis on productivity and security. The new side stage multi-tasking allows for phone and tablet apps on the screen at the same time, and full encryption and secure multi-user logins are an integral part of the operating system. When added to Ubuntu's unique heads-up display, voice activated control and gesture based navigation, Ubuntu on your tablet might be the cleanest design you've ever seen.

Ubuntu on a tablet is something many of us have been wanting. With today's hardware, a full Linux distribution on a 7 or 10 inch screen is more than feasible, and it looks like we're going to get a chance to find out. On Feb 21 when Canonical releases the Ubuntu Touch preview, the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 will be supported in addition to phones like the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4. Hit the break for the full press release and the press photos.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/PR1dlYEVgsY/story01.htm

W S B H c mitt romney mark zuckerberg

Microsoft conferma Windows Blue, un ondata di aggiornamenti per tutti i suoi prodotti

Windows Blue ? il nome in codice di un'ondata di aggiornamenti destinata a tutti i prodotti e servizi Microsoft. Le indiscrezioni circolanti da circa tre mesi sono in qualche modo ora diventate una certezza: Microsoft ha infatti pubblicato un annuncio di lavoro in cui viene fatto esplicito riferimento all?aggiornamento. Nel corso dell?estate verranno quindi rilasciate nuove versioni di Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 e Windows Phone 8.

Windows Blue rappresenter? per Microsoft l?inizio di una nuova strategia commerciale: i vecchi Service Pack, rilasciati a distanza di anni dalle prime versioni dei software, saranno sostituiti dai Feature Service Pack, update a cadenza annuale che oltre a contenere patch e fix, porteranno nuove funzionalit? al sistema operativo. Il primo paragrafo dell?annuncio (non pi? presente su Microsoft Careers) chiarisce il lavoro che dovranno svolgere tutti coloro che verranno assunti per portare avanti il progetto:

Stiamo cercando un SDET (Software Design Engineer in Test, ndr) con esperienza che far? parte del Core Experience team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE). Le feature del Core Experience rappresentano il fulcro della nuova interfaccia utente di Windows, ci? che gli utenti vogliono vedere e toccare nel sistema operativo, tra cui lo Start screen, le applicazioni, le finestre e la personalizzazione. Windows Blue promette di perfezionare questi aspetti del sistema operativo, migliorando la facilit? d?uso e l?esperienza utente complessiva sui dispositivi e sui PC di tutto il mondo.

Windows Blue non sar? per? solo un update esclusivo per sistemi operativi Microsoft, ma riguarder? anche i servizi come SkyDrive, Outlook.com e Xbox. La distribuzione dell?aggiornamento ? prevista per la fine dell?estate, probabilmente durante il mese di settembre. In un secondo annuncio di lavoro, relativo alla divisione Office, ? presente un riferimento a Windows Phone Blue, per il quale Microsoft realizzer? anche una versione del foglio di calcolo, denominata Excel MX, con interfaccia touch ottimizzata per smartphone.

Source: http://www.windowsblogitalia.com/2013/02/microsoft-conferma-windows-blue-un.html

uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012 space weather sunspots pac 12 tournament sun storm