"Why should I resign irrevocably? I have not done anything wrong," Enrile told reporters in an interview.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/gmanews/posts/105262499655478
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Acer pushed the boundaries of price for major brand tablets with its $150 Iconia B1. It's not about to quit with just one model under its belt, however. The company's Greater China head, Linxian Lang, explained to China Times that there should also be 8- and 10-inch tablets on the way with "aggressive" prices. Acer isn't just adding more glass, either, as it's looking at quad-core MediaTek processors for a speed jump. There's no word on just when the larger budget slates might appear, although we wouldn't count on them coming to the US when the B1 has already been ruled out.
Via: Notebook Italia (translated)
Source: China Times (translated)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/P-4Kt5GGELQ/
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TORONTO (AP) ? Research In Motion investors are turning skittish ahead of Wednesday's critical launch of the company's much-delayed new BlackBerrys.
THE SPARK: The sell-off in RIM shares this week follows a months-long rally. The company's stock had nearly tripled from a nine-year low in September after favorable reviews on blogs and financial analysts started to see some possibility of a comeback.
THE BIG PICTURE: The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and had also crossed over to consumers.
But the iPhone's debut in 2007 showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls, and exploded RIM's market. The company's shares sank for years as the BlackBerry lost ground to the iPhone and phones running Google Inc.'s Android system.
Now RIM promises to unveil a new operating system to catch up. Chief Executive Thorsten Heins will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday.
THE ANALYSIS: But doubts remain about the ability of BlackBerry 10 to rescue RIM.
"We'll see if they can reclaim their glory. My sense is that it will be a phone that everyone says good things about but not as many people buy," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. He said he wondered how many would ultimately sell and how profitable the new phones would be for RIM.
"We don't know how successful it will be," said Gareth Watson, vice-president of investment management and research at Richardson GMP Ltd.
Moreover, RIM is initially releasing only a touchscreen version of the phone, but Gillis said that the company should release a keyboard version at the same time. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after the touchscreen model launch.
"You have 80 million subscribers and the No. 1 feature that they like is the physical keyboard," Gillis said.
SHARE ACTION: Down 83 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $15.35 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Shares dropped 7.8 percent on Monday. But in the four weeks through Friday, shares had gained 47 percent.
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Jan. 30, 2013 ? A first ever study of the range and habits of white-backed vultures across southern Africa shows that they often shun national parks, preferring to forage further afield on private farmland.
This behaviour and their tendency to scavenge in groups, means that vultures risk encountering dead cattle that have been administered veterinary drugs that are poisonous to them, or even poisoned carcasses intended to control other carnivores such as jackals.
The research, using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite transmitters to track the movements of adolescent vultures, is published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The white-backed vulture is a widespread but declining species in Africa and it is now listed as endangered. In India, several vulture species are on the verge of extinction due to accidental poisoning from cattle carcasses that contain anti-inflammatory drugs administered by farmers. These drugs are non-lethal to cattle yet fatal to vultures. There is a concern that these drugs could become more widely used in Africa.
Vultures prefer to feed in savannah grassland habitats and away from other competing carnivores, such as lions, and the new study shows that the birds will go to considerable lengths to find food, crossing multiple state boundaries, with each bird on average ranging across an area twice the size of England.
Co-lead author, Dr Stephen Willis, School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, said: "We found that young vultures travel much further than we ever imagined to find food, sometimes moving more than 220 kilometres a day. Individuals moved through up to five countries over a period of 200 days, emphasising the need for conservation collaboration among countries to protect this species."
"In South Africa, the vultures avoided the national parks that have been established to conserve wildlife. As a result, these parks are unlikely to protect such a wide-ranging species against threats in the wider landscape.
"The vultures may actively avoid parks with numerous large mammal predators due to competition for food, and find easier pickings on cattle carcasses in farmland outside these protected areas.
"We found evidence that individual birds were attracted to 'vulture restaurants' where carrion is regularly put out as an extra source of food for vultures and where tourists can see the birds up close. As a result, these individuals reduced their ranging behaviour. Such 'restaurants' could be used in future to attract vultures to areas away from sites where they are at high risk of poisoning."
The team tracked six immature African white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus): five for 200 days, and one for 101 days) across southern Africa using GPS tracking units which were carefully strapped to the birds' backs.
Co-lead author, Louis Phipps, who recently graduated from the University of Pretoria, said: "Modern farming practices mean that vultures face an increasing risk of fatal poisoning. The provision of an uncontaminated supply of food, research into veterinary practices, and education for farmers could all be part of a future solution, if vulture numbers continue to plummet."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Durham University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/EPAzNgl82z4/130130184314.htm
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President Obama laid out a list of key principles that he wants to see in a comprehensive immigration reform bill, during a speech in Las Vegas, Nev., Tuesday.
Continuing to Strengthen Border Security
????????? Strengthen border security and infrastructure.? The President?s proposal strengthens and improves infrastructure at ports of entry, facilitates public-private partnerships aimed at increasing investment in foreign visitor processing, and continues supporting the use of technologies that help to secure the land and maritime borders of the United States.
?
????????? Combat transnational crime.? The President?s proposal creates new criminal penalties dedicated to combating transnational criminal organizations that traffic in drugs, weapons, and money, and that smuggle people across the borders.? It also expands the scope of current law to allow for the forfeiture of these organizations? criminal tools and proceeds.? Through this approach, we will bolster our efforts to deprive criminal enterprises, including those operating along the Southwest border, of their infrastructure and profits.
????????? Improve partnerships with border communities and law enforcement.? The President?s proposal expands our ability to work with our cross-border law enforcement partners.? Community trust and cooperation are keys to effective law enforcement. To this end, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will establish border community liaisons along the Southern and Northern borders to improve communication and collaboration with border communities, boost funding to tribal government partners to reduce illegal activity on tribal lands, and strengthen training on civil rights and civil liberties for DHS immigration officers.?
????????? Crack down on criminal networks engaging in passport and visa fraud and human smuggling. The President?s proposal creates tough criminal penalties for trafficking in passports and immigration documents and schemes to defraud, including those who prey on vulnerable immigrants through notario fraud. It also strengthens penalties to combat human smuggling rings.
????????? Deporting Criminals. The President?s proposal expands smart enforcement efforts that target convicted criminals in federal or state correctional facilities, allowing us to remove them from the United States at the end of their sentences without re-entering our communities. At the same time, it protects those with a credible fear of returning to their home countries.??
????????? Streamline removal of nonimmigrant national security and public safety threats.? The President?s proposal creates a streamlined administrative removal process for people who overstay their visas and have been determined to be threats to national security and public safety.
????????? Improve our nation?s immigration courts.? The President?s proposal invests in our immigration courts. By increasing the number of immigration judges and their staff, investing in training for court personnel, and improving access to legal information for immigrants, these reforms will improve court efficiency.? It allows DHS to better focus its detention resources on public safety and national security threats by expanding alternatives to detention and reducing overall detention costs.? It also provides greater protections for those least able to represent themselves.
?
Cracking Down on Employers Who Hire Undocumented Workers
????????? Mandatory, phased-in electronic employment verification. The President?s proposal provides tools for employers to ensure a legal workforce by using federal government databases to verify that the people they hire are eligible to work in the United States.? Penalties for hiring undocumented workers are significantly increased, and new penalties are established for committing fraud and identity theft.? The new mandatory program ensures the privacy and confidentiality of all workers? personal information and includes important procedural protections.? Mandatory electronic employment verification would be phased in over five years with exemptions for certain small businesses.
????????? Combat fraud and identity theft.? The proposal also mandates a fraud?resistant, tamper?resistant Social Security card and requires workers to use fraud?and tamper?resistant documents to prove authorization to work in the United States. The proposal also seeks to establish a voluntary pilot program to evaluate new methods to authenticate identity and combat identity theft.?
????????? Protections for all workers. The President?s proposal protects workers against retaliation for exercising their labor rights.? It increases the penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers to skirt the workplace standards that protect all workers.? And it creates a ?labor law enforcement fund? to help ensure that industries that employ significant numbers of immigrant workers comply with labor laws.
?
Pathway to Earned Citizenship
?
????????? Create a provisional legal status.? Undocumented immigrants must come forward and register, submit biometric data, pass criminal background and national security checks, and pay fees and penalties before they will be eligible for a provisional legal status.? Agricultural workers and those who entered the United States as children would be eligible for the same program.? Individuals must wait until the existing legal immigration backlogs are cleared before getting in line to apply for lawful permanent residency (i.e. a ?green card?), and ultimately United States citizenship. Consistent with current law, people with provisional legal status will not be eligible for welfare or other federal benefits, including subsidies or tax credits under the new health care law.
????????? Create strict requirements to qualify for lawful permanent resident status.? Those applying for green cards must pay their taxes, pass additional criminal background and national security checks, register for Selective Service (where applicable), pay additional fees and penalties, and learn English and U.S. civics.? As under current law, five years after receiving a green card, individuals will be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship like every other legal permanent resident.
????????? Earned citizenship for DREAMers. Children brought here illegally through no fault of their own by their parents will be eligible for earned citizenship.? By going to college or serving honorably in the Armed Forces for at least two years, these children should be given an expedited opportunity to earn their citizenship.? The President?s proposal brings these undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.
????????? Create administrative and judicial review. An individual whose provisional lawful status has been revoked or denied, or whose application for adjustment has been denied, will have the opportunity to seek administrative and judicial review of those decisions.??
?
????????? Provide new resources to combat fraud. The President?s proposal authorizes funding to enable DHS, the Department of State, and other relevant federal agencies to establish fraud prevention programs that will provide training for adjudicators, allow regular audits of applications to identify patterns of fraud and abuse, and incorporate other proven fraud prevention measures.
?
Streamlining Legal Immigration
????????? Keep Families Together. The proposal seeks to eliminate existing backlogs in the family-sponsored immigration system by recapturing unused visas and temporarily increasing annual visa numbers.? The proposal also raises existing annual country caps from 7 percent to 15 percent for the family-sponsored immigration system.?? It also treats same-sex families as families by giving U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents the ability to seek a visa on the basis of a permanent relationship with a same-sex partner. The proposal also revises current unlawful presence bars and provides broader discretion to waive bars in cases of hardship.
????????? Cut Red Tape for Employers.? The proposal also eliminates the backlog for employment-sponsored immigration by eliminating annual country caps and adding additional visas to the system.? Outdated legal immigration programs are reformed to meet current and future demands by exempting certain categories from annual visa limitations.
?
????????? Enhance travel and tourism.? The Administration is committed to increasing U.S. travel and tourism by facilitating legitimate travel while maintaining our nation?s security.? Consistent with the President?s Executive Order on travel and tourism, the President?s proposal securely streamlines visa and foreign visitor processing.? It also strengthens law enforcement cooperation while maintaining the program?s robust counterterrorism and criminal information sharing initiatives.? It facilitates more efficient travel by allowing greater flexibility to designate countries for participation in the Visa Waiver Program, which allows citizens of designated countries to visit the United States without obtaining a visa. ?And finally it permits the State Department to waive interview requirements for certain very low-risk visa applicants, permitting resources to be focused on higher risk applicants and creates a pilot for premium visa processing.
?
????????? ?Staple? green cards to advanced STEM diplomas.? The proposal encourages foreign graduate students educated in the United States to stay here and contribute to our economy by ?stapling? a green card to the diplomas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) PhD and Master?s Degree graduates from qualified U.S. universities who have found employment in the United States.? It also requires employers to pay a fee that will support education and training to grow the next generation of American workers in STEM careers.
????????? Create a ?startup visa? for job-creating entrepreneurs.? The proposal allows foreign entrepreneurs who attract financing from U.S. investors or revenue from U.S. customers to start and grow their businesses in the United States, and to remain permanently if their companies grow further, create jobs for American workers, and strengthen our economy.
?
????????? Expand opportunities for investor visas and U.S. economic development.? The proposal permanently authorizes immigrant visa opportunities for regional center (pooled investment) programs; provides incentives for visa requestors to invest in programs that support national priorities, including economic development in rural and economically depressed regions ; adds new measures to combat fraud and national security threats; includes data collection on economic impact; and creates a pilot program for? state and local government officials to promote economic development.
?
????????? Create a new visa category for employees of federal national security science and technology laboratories.? The proposal creates a new visa category for a limited number of highly-skilled and specialized immigrants to work in federal science and technology laboratories on critical national security needs after being in the United States. for two years and passing rigorous national security and criminal background checks.
?
????????? Better addresses humanitarian concerns. The proposal streamlines immigration law to better protect vulnerable immigrants, including those who are victims of crime and domestic violence.? It also better protects those fleeing persecution by eliminating the existing limitations that prevent qualified individuals from applying for asylum.
?
????????? Encourage integration. The proposal promotes earned citizenship and efforts to integrate immigrants into their new American communities linguistically, civically, and economically.
Source: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-lays-out-key-principles-for-immigration-reform
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NEW DELHI (AP) ? A juvenile court has ruled that a suspect in the fatal gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi last month was a juvenile at the time of the attack.
A lawyer present in the court said a magistrate announced the decision Monday after going over documents presented to the court by officials of the suspect's elementary school that indicated that he was a juvenile at the time of the Dec. 16 attack.
The lawyer could not be named because he was not authorized to brief media.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-india-gang-rape-tried-juvenile-110304827.html
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Russell terriers Pepper and Madison make their pre-Westminster Dog Show debut (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
NEW YORK?At certain moments it had the air of a red-carpet event, with camera shutters clicking in rapid fire and flashbulbs igniting the room in white light. But there were no famous celebrities here?only a pair of Russell terriers named Pepper and Madison, who grew sleepier and sleepier on their handler?s lap as photographers jostled back and forth to take their picture.
It was the dogs? official debut as part of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which held a press conference Monday to show off the two new breeds competing in next month?s show. In addition to the Russell terrier, a breed called the treeing Walker coonhound?so named for its ability to run raccoons up trees?will also compete for the first time at Westminster, which kicks off Feb. 11 in New York.
Organizers announced Monday that 2,721 dogs will compete at the show?making it the largest in 15 years?with 187 breeds vying for the ultimate title of best in show. Also for the first time in its 137-year history, the event will be split up into two venues: Madison Square Garden, and New York?s Piers 92 and 94 along the Hudson River. The additional space means more people can see the dogs up close.
Westminster has long been considered the most famous dog show in the country?a fact that was evident on Monday as dozens of reporters and photographers crammed into a tiny conference room at the Affinia Hotel across the street from Madison Square Garden to eye the new breeds.
?Now, now, play nice,? David Friel, Westminster?s communication director and longtime announcer, declared at one point as the room descended into chaos. Friel wasn?t talking to the dogs, but to photographers and videographers who pushed and shoved each other trying to get close to the dogs while the canines surveyed the scene calmly.
At one point, Meg, a brown-and-white treeing Walker coonhound from Pennsylvania, delivered an impromptu kiss on the mouth to her owner Curt Willis as Friel spoke to reporters.
?DO THAT AGAIN!? a photographer yelled, and Meg whined and promptly licked her owner?s face?resulting in a deluge of shutter clicks.
Friel was careful to note that Russell terriers and treeing Walker coonhounds aren?t exactly ?new? breeds, but rather had finally met the strict qualifications of the American Kennel Club, which determines which types of dogs are allowed to compete at Westminster. Among other things, AKC weighs inclusion on the breed?s popularity and its geographic distribution around the U.S.
Fifteen Russell terriers will compete this year along with 13 treeing Walker coonhounds. But that?s a small number compared to other breeds. The golden retriever, for instance, has 61 entries, and the Labrador retriever, 54.
Asked why it took so long for Westminster to include Russell terriers, Sue Sobel, owner of Pepper and Madison, looked down at her sleepy dogs and shrugged. ?I don?t know,? she said. ?Just look how cute they are.?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/two-breeds-westminster-dog-show-debut-215824657--finance.html
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Chris Brown (Getty Images)
Frank Ocean (Getty Images)
Chris Brown's next hot date could be with a judge.
The controversial singer is being investigated for a possible assault in West Hollywood, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department confirms. The incident stemmed from an argument with fellow singer Frank Ocean over a parking spot outside a recording studio.
Police responded to a call stating that six men were fighting outside the Westlake Recording Studio on Sunday. While the scene was clear when police arrived, the investigation determined that "the altercation allegedly led to Chris Brown punching the victim," the department said in a statement released Monday.
While the victim's name wasn't released by police, Ocean says he was injured by Brown, 23. "Got jumped by Chris and a couple guys," the "Thinkin Bout You" singer, 25, tweeted on Sunday night. While he made light of the situation with a "lol," Ocean ? who is up for six Grammys on February 10 ? noted, "Cut my finger now I can't play w two hands at the grammys."
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An unnamed source told TMZ that as Brown was exiting parking lot after listening to a new track by an artist he represents, Ocean and his pals blocked the exit. "This is my studio, this is my parking spot," Ocean, who came out as a gay man in July, reportedly said to Brown. When Brown went to shake Ocean's hand, a fight broke out.
Brown and Ocean have a history of drama. In 2011, they had a war of words over Twitter when Ocean thought Brown insulted his singing abilities.
Brown posted this photo -- showing him working in the studio -- on Monday. (Instagram)Brown seemed to address the new drama with Ocean in a post on Instagram that went up Monday morning. "Working on my album. Not working on negativity," he wrote along with a photo showing him in the studio the day before. "Focus on feeding ya family. Bulls--t will forever be in the shadows."
Of course, talk of Brown allegedly assaulting a singer prior to the Grammys will make many people flashback to his violent attack of his on-again girlfriend Rihanna following a pre-Grammys party in 2009. He later pled guilty to felony assault charges.
Brown is still on supervised probation for the Rihanna assault, so he could face a probation violation if he is convicted of this new charge. He?s already on thin ice with the judge, who gave him a talking to in November after he failed a mandatory drug test.
This isn?t the only assault drama Brown has been involved with. In June, he was injured in a fight with hip-hop rival Drake and their entourages at a New York City nightclub. Brown fled the scene before police arrived during that incident as well. Ultimately, there was not enough evidence to criminally charge either star.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. ? A bipartisan group of senators has agreed on a plan to grant legal status to most of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., which could form the basis for a far-reaching overhaul of immigration laws this year.
The Senate blueprint, drafted during weeks of closed-door meetings by leading senators from each party, will probably set parameters for a contentious legislative battle over the next several months. The eight senators involved intend to release their proposal publicly Monday. A copy was provided to The Times? Washington bureau on Sunday by Senate aides.
The Senate plan is more conservative than President Obama?s proposal, which he plans to unveil Tuesday in a speech in Las Vegas. But its provisions for legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants go further than measures that failed to advance in Congress in previous years ? a reminder of how swiftly the politics of immigration have shifted since Latino voters? strong influence in the November election.
In terms of the number of people who would potentially receive legal status, it would be more than three times larger than the amnesty plan passed under President Reagan in 1986, which legalized about 3 million immigrants.
The senators involved hope to begin committee votes on a bill as soon as March. The timing of their proposal and Obama?s, coupled with that schedule ? quick by Senate standards ? could set up a dynamic in which an eventual bill falls somewhere between the bipartisan plan and the president?s.
Latino activists and other advocates for comprehensive immigration reform have pushed for quick action in the Senate, hoping that a large bipartisan vote for a bill that includes a path to citizenship would put pressure on the House.
Many members of the House Republican majority represent districts where proposals for legalization remain highly unpopular, but many Republicans also worry about the political price if the party takes the blame for killing immigration reform.
The Senate proposal would allow most of those in the country illegally to obtain probationary legal status immediately by paying a fine and back taxes and passing a background check. That would make them eligible to work and live in the U.S. They could earn a green card ? permanent residency ? after the government certifies that the U.S.-Mexican border has become secure, but might face a lengthy process before becoming citizens.
Obama is expected to push for a faster citizenship process that would not be conditional on border security standards being met first. The structure of the citizenship process will probably be among the most hotly debated parts of any immigration plan.
Less-controversial provisions would tighten requirements on employers to check the immigration status of new workers; increase the number of visas for high-skilled jobs; provide green cards automatically to people who earn master?s degrees or PhDs in science, technology or math at U.S. universities; and create an agricultural guest-worker program.
On Sunday, a White House spokesman said the president was ?pleased that progress is being made with bipartisan support.?
?At the same time, he will not be satisfied until there is meaningful reform, and he will continue to urge Congress to act,? Obama spokesman Clark Stevens said.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who heads the Senate subcommittee that handles immigration legislation, briefed the White House on Sunday, according to a Senate aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The eight senators scrambled over the weekend to come to an agreement before Obama unveiled his plan, hoping to head off any potential Republican backlash against a White House proposal and show common ground.
At a news conference Sunday in New York, Schumer noted that ?the devil is in the details,? but said that he and the other senators in the group had made good progress.
?I?m impressed with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle over their desire to meet in the middle. We can?t pass it without both Democrats and Republicans,? said Schumer, adding that he and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had ?developed a little bit of a friendship? during the negotiations.
The group has met in person five times in Washington since the November election, alternating between the Capitol Hill offices of Schumer and McCain. Participants include Democrats Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
Rubio, a conservative favorite widely seen as a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, was asked to join the Senate group in early December. In their discussions, Rubio focused on strengthening employee-verification provisions and improving border security before the new class of immigrants could be eligible for citizenship, a Senate aide said.
So far, the group has negotiated legislative language on implementing the legalization program and on increasing border security, said a Senate aide familiar with the discussions. The senators will turn their attention next to details on how to increase the flow of legal immigration to reduce the incentive for illegal border crossings, the aide said.
One sticking point could be how the government decides the border is secure ? the determination that would trigger the provisions allowing citizenship.
The senators have proposed a commission of border-state governors, attorneys general and community leaders to monitor border security. But if the government fails to meet the panel?s standard, those granted the new probationary legal status could be living indefinitely as a second class of Americans, allowed to remain in the U.S. but unable to vote, enroll in Medicare or receive federal student loans.
Another issue involves establishing an exit-visa system to track when people leave the country. The proposal calls for exit visas at seaports and airports, but does not specify whether they also would be required at land border crossings, which could be considerably more expensive. A system for tracking when people leave is a priority for the senators, because about 40% of the country?s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants entered with a legal visa and overstayed.
Even before the bipartisan plan?s release, immigration experts have said the chances for reform are better than in previous years.
?When both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are talking about the issue in calm tones but with a sense of urgency, that is the makings for legislative action,? said Angela Kelley, an expert on immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington.
Both the White House and lawmakers seem to be moving fast to get a bill introduced, Kelley said, adding: ?The players are about as caffeinated as I?ve seen them.?
Los Angeles Times
Source: http://ktla.com/2013/01/27/senators-agree-on-immigration-plan-that-gives-legal-status-to-millions/
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Want to know how to change your smart phone into a light switch? Philips Hue bulbs are controlled by your Android or iPhone, letting you turn them on and off from another room or another country.?
Your phone -- you want it to be a light switch? There's an app for that. The search for new apps spurs demand for creative app designers like Ben Johnson and Michelle Chen, pictured, at Raizlabs in Boston.
EnlargeNow that most phones connect to the Internet, how about your light bulbs? Dutch electronics giant Philips trotted out a new kind of bulb last year ? one of the first to come with its own Internet router.
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These Philips Hue bulbs can be controlled by your Android or iPhone, allowing you to turn them on and off from the couch or ... from another country. The Hue application lets you adjust the brightness and color of each bulb individually and then program different settings for certain situations.
Dinner time? Maybe dim the lights to 70 percent brightness and give them a slightly reddish tint. New painting that you want to show off? Take a photo of the artwork with your phone and then tell the lights to match certain colors from the image.
In tests done by the Monitor, the Hue bulbs seem well designed, even though the app is not that intuitive. Perhaps foreseeing this problem, Philips opened up the software that runs these lights, allowing programmers to craft their own Hue apps. Already, Apple's online store has a 99-cent homemade disco app called Magic Hue that can take control of the Philips bulbs and tell them to pulsate in tempo with music.
Each of the LED bulbs shines with the strength of a 50-watt incandescent, but sips just 8.5 watts of power ? an energy efficiency similar to that of curlicue compact fluorescents.
However, Wi-Fi lights aren't cheap. A starter kit of three bulbs and a router costs $200. Each additional light is $60. Competitor GreenWave Reality offers a four-pack of colorless, app-powered lights and a router for $200, with extra bulbs costing $20 apiece.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama will launch a campaign next week aimed at overhauling the nation's flawed immigration system and creating legal status for millions, as a bipartisan Senate group nears agreement on achieving the same goals.
The proposals from Obama and lawmakers will mark the start of what is expected to be a contentious and emotional process with deep political implications. Latino voters overwhelmingly backed Obama in the 2012 election, leaving Republicans grappling for a way to regain their standing with an increasingly powerful pool of voters.
The president will press his case for immigration changes during a trip to Las Vegas Tuesday. The Senate working group is also aiming to outline its proposals next week, according to a Senate aide.
Administration officials say Obama's second-term immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office but failed to act on. He is expected to revive his little-noticed 2011 immigration "blueprint," which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens.
"What has been absent in the time since he put those principles forward has been a willingness by Republicans, generally speaking, to move forward with comprehensive immigration reform," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. "What he hopes is that that dynamic has changed."
The political dynamic does appear to have shifted following the November election. Despite making little progress on immigration in his first term, Obama won more than 70 percent of the Latino vote, in part because of the conservative positions on immigration that Republican nominee Mitt Romney staked out during the GOP primary. Latino voters accounted for 10 percent of the electorate in November.
The president met privately Friday morning with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to discuss his next steps on immigration. Among those in the meeting was Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., who said Obama told lawmakers "immigration reform is his number one legislative priority."
That could bump back the president's efforts to seek legislation enacting stricter gun laws, another issue he has vowed to make a top second term priority.
The Senate immigration group is also pressing for quick action, aiming to draft a bill by March and pass legislation in their chamber by August, said the aide, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private deliberations. The Republican-controlled House would also need to pass the legislation before it went to the White House for the president's signature.
Senate lawmakers working on the immigration effort include Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey; and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, according to Senate aides.
Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado, and Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah have also been involved. It's not clear whether all those involved will sign on to the principles the group hopes to roll out next week.
Those principles are expected to include a process toward legalizing the status of unauthorized immigrants already in the country; border security; verification measures for employers hiring workers and ways for more temporary workers to be admitted into the country.
It's unclear whether the group will back the pathway to full citizenship that the president is seeking. Schumer and Graham have previously supported requiring illegal immigrants to admit they broke the law, perform community service, pay fines and back taxes, pass background checks and learn English before going to the back of the line of immigrants already in the system in order to legalize their immigration status.
Several of the senators negotiating the immigration principles are veterans of the failed comprehensive immigration reform effort under then-President George W. Bush. That process collapsed in 2007 when it came up well-short of the needed votes in the Senate, a bitter outcome for Bush and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Democrats' leader on the legislation.
Some Republicans still lament that result as a missed opportunity for the party that could have set the GOP on a different path to reach more Latino voters.
Rubio is a relative newcomer to Senate negotiations on the issue, but he's seen as a rising star in his party and a potential 2016 presidential candidate. As a charismatic young Hispanic leader his proposals on immigration have attracted wide notice in recent weeks. And as a conservative favorite, unlike McCain or Graham, his stamp of approval could be critical to drawing in other conservative lawmakers.
A Republican aide said that Rubio has made clear in his interactions with the Senate group that he couldn't sign on to proposals that deviated from the principles he himself has been laying out in recent media interviews, including border security first, a guest-worker program, more visas for high-tech workers and enforcement in the workplace.
As for the illegal immigrants already in the country, Rubio would have them pay a fine and back taxes, show they have not committed crimes, prove they've been in the country for some time and speak some English and apply for permanent residency. Ultimately citizenship too could be in reach but only after a process that doesn't nudge aside immigrants already in line, and Rubio hasn't provided details on how long it all might take.
___
Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo contributed to this report.
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President Barack Obama announces in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, that he will nominate Mary Joe White, right, to lead the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), and re-nominate Richard Cordray, left, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a role that he has held for the last year under a recess appointment. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama announces in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, that he will nominate Mary Joe White, right, to lead the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), and re-nominate Richard Cordray, left, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a role that he has held for the last year under a recess appointment. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says his picks for two top posts will crack down on those whose irresponsible behavior threatens the U.S. economy and the middle class.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama praises his nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Jo White, and his pick for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray.
Obama says White, a former federal prosecutor, will help reform Wall Street. He says Cordray will be a champion for American consumers and is imploring the Senate to confirm him.
Obama installed Cordray last year through a recess appointment after Senate Republicans opposed his nomination.
In the Republican address, South Dakota Sen. John Thune says the Senate must pass a budget that addresses out-of-control spending to stave off another credit-rating downgrade.
____
Online:
Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov
GOP address: www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress
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United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
United States Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Participants leave the Congress Center the last day of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? Indonesia may hold the key to a $1 trillion injection into the global economy.
That's how much the World Trade Organization believes is riding on talks later this year in Bali, when trade ministers hope to cut through some of the red tape that slows global commerce.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told The Associated Press that failure is not an option and that a strong effort is being put in to ensure that the WTO meeting in Bali is "crowned with success."
The current trade talks, known as the Doha Round, began in 2001, and after a decade of little progress for a range of reasons, many had pronounced the negotiations to reduce global trade barriers as dead.
There are hopes that the current fragile state of the world economy, including the debt crisis afflicting the 17 European Union countries that use the euro and unspectacular U.S. growth, may add impetus to the discussions.
"It's very critical now, especially with the difficulties in the global economy, especially in the eurozone," he said of efforts to reach a new global free trade pact. "Trade facilitation becomes a key driver for economic recovery, so this is now even ever more important to what it was before."
Trade ministers from 24 nations met Saturday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos in an unofficial gathering hosted by the Swiss government.
Afterward, Swiss Economic Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann said the group agreed they could reach a tentative agreement on some of the key elements of a global trade deal this summer, in preparation for the ministerial talks in December at Bali.
Schneider-Ammann said he sensed some "optimism" that efforts to streamline customs procedures and other rules to reduce the costs of trade "will be successful."
The ministers agreed to resist protectionism, focus on elements such as trade facilitation and agriculture, and to "take stock" around Easter of the progress being made, Schneider-Ammann said.
"Serious attempts to deliver results in Bali have already started," he added.
The Doha negotiations have been billed as a way of boosting economic development among the poorest countries, by reducing barriers on their exports to wealthier markets.
The WTO's director general, Pascal Lamy, has been telling the Davos gathering of political, business and academic elites that an international trade deal would provide a $1 trillion boost to the global economy. He estimates world trade is worth about $22 trillion.
Flanked by Schneider-Ammann, Lamy told reporters that he believes it is technically "do-able" to craft draft agreements on some of the key elements of a deal by next summer.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said he had to "temper" his enthusiasm for a deal since it has eluded the world for a decade.
Areas of dispute include tariffs on manufactured good, agricultural subsidies, market access and intellectual property rules. Brazil, China and India have resisted U.S. demands to lower taxes on imports of manufactured goods.
"But, at least of the 24 countries represented today, it felt like we had made more substantive progress," Kirk said in an AP interview. "The good news is we've spent a lot of work on a smaller, more realistic package centered around trade facilitation, which can be a huge benefit to developing economies. And it feels like that is starting to bear fruit."
Kirk, who leaves his job next month, said the ministers renewed their commitment "to double down, do what we need to do" to reach a deal in Bali. "I'm as hopeful as I've been in a long time."
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of youths fought Egyptian police in Cairo on Friday on the second anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak and brought the election of an Islamist president who protesters accuse of riding roughshod over the new democracy.
The January 25 anniversary showcased the divide between the Islamists and secular foes hindering President Mohamed Mursi's efforts to get a stagnant economy moving, and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency, by attracting back investors and tourists.
Inspired by Tunisia's ground-breaking popular uprising, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that has only worsened and last month triggered lethal street battles.
Opponents of Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies began massing in Cairo's Tahrir Square to revive the demands of a revolution they say has been betrayed by Islamists.
Police battled hardcore protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they tried to approach a wall blocking access to government buildings near the square in the early hours of the morning.
Clouds of tear gas fired by police filled the air. At one point, riot police used one of the incendiaries thrown at them to set ablaze at least two tents erected by the youths, a Reuters witness said. Clashes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets near the square into the day.
Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties. The health ministry said 25 people had been injured since Thursday in clashes around Tahrir Square.
Some protesters pledged to march to Mursi's palace.
Thousands more protested against the Brotherhood in cities across Egypt including Suez, Ismailia, Port Said and Alexandria.
The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing in the street for the anniversary, wary of the scope for more conflict after violence in December that was fuelled by Mursi's campaign to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution.
"The people want to bring down the regime," declared banners in the square, echoing the main Arab Spring slogan of 2011. "Save Egypt from the rule of the Supreme Guide," said another, a reference to leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie.
Mursi, in a speech on Thursday marking the Prophet Mohammad's birthday, called on Egyptians to mark the anniversary "in a civilized, peaceful way that safeguards our nation, our institutions, our lives".
"The Brotherhood is very concerned about escalation, that's why they have tried to dial down their role on January 25," said Shadi Hamid director of research at the Brookings Doha Center.
"There may very well be the kinds of clashes that we've seen before, but I don't see anything major happening that is going to fundamentally change the political situation," he said.
BADIE CALLS FOR "PRACTICAL, SERIOUS COMPETITION"
With its eye firmly on forthcoming parliamentary elections, the Brotherhood marked the anniversary with a big charity drive across the nation. It plans to deliver medical aid to 1 million people and distribute affordable basic foodstuffs.
Writing in Al-Ahram, Egypt's flagship state-run daily, Brotherhood leader Badie said the country was in need of "practical, serious competition" to reform the corrupt state left by the Mubarak era.
"The differences of opinion and vision that Egypt is passing through is a characteristic at the core of transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and clearly expresses the variety of Egyptian culture," he wrote.
Still, Mursi faces discontent on multiple fronts.
His opponents say he and his group are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak order. They accuse him of showing some of the autocratic impulses of the deposed leader by, for example, driving through the new constitution last month.
"I am taking part in today's marches to reject the warped constitution, the 'Brotherhoodisation' of the state, the attack on the rule of law, and the disregard of the president and his government for the demands for social justice," Amr Hamzawy, a prominent liberal politician, wrote on his Twitter feed.
The Brotherhood dismisses many of the criticisms as unfair. It accuses its opponents of failing to respect the rules of the new democracy that put the Islamists in the driving seat by winning free elections.
Six months into office, Mursi is also being held responsible for an economic crisis caused by two years of turmoil. The Egyptian pound has sunk to record lows against the dollar.
SOURCES OF FRICTION ABOUND
Other sources of friction abound. Little has been done to reform brutal Mubarak-era security agencies. A spate of transport disasters on roads and railways neglected for years is feeding discontent as well. Activists are impatient for justice for the victims of violence over the last two years.
These include hardcore soccer fans, or ultras, who have been rallying in recent days to press for justice for 74 people killed in a soccer stadium disaster a year ago in Port Said after a match between local side al-Masry and Cairo's Al Ahly.
A verdict in the case brought against 73 people charged in connection with the deaths had been expected on Saturday, but could be delayed after a request by the prosecutor for time to present new evidence. A delay will likely kindle more protests.
The parties that called for Friday's protests listed demands including a complete overhaul of the constitution.
Critics say the constitution, which was approved in a referendum, offers inadequate protection for human rights, grants the president too many privileges and fails to curb the power of a military establishment supreme in the Mubarak era.
Mursi's supporters say enacting the constitution quickly was crucial to restoring stability desperately needed for economic recovery, and that the opposition is making the situation worse by perpetuating unrest.
(Additional reporting by Ashraf Fahim; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-opposition-mark-uprising-protests-012625590.html
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Most recently, Matt reported on the Boeing 787 controversy for popularmechanics.com. In years past he brought great stories about new jets, airliner safety, and other flight issues to our site. Prior to that he worked in our office as online producer.
Matt is survived by his fiance Gina and brother Steven.
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If there's one company that comprehensively caters to the entry-level and intermediate DJ, there's a good chance it's Numark. While the firm has released a whole bunch of stuff at NAMM this year, perhaps its most mainstream offering is the iDJ Live II. If you remember the original, it was a lightweight controller (both physically, and metaphorically) designed for use with Djay on iOS. This time around the little fella gets a redesign, and a few functionality tweaks. Most notable, is that while the first iteration only gave you the option of iOS connectivity -- via the 30-pin adaptor -- this time you have the choice of Lightning, 30-pin, or straight up USB. Thus, you can now bring the iDJ Live II out to work with your Mac or PC, too. Once again, it's built with Algoriddim's Djay in mind, be it the desktop or iOS version, and we got our hands on it to take it for a spin. Head past the break for the lowdown.
First things first. This is very much a fun, consumer product. It would be unfair to call it an accessory, but it's definitely meant for casual use at parties etc. The unit itself is very light, made entirely of plastic, and feels very different to the heavier DJ controllers you might be used to. The iDJ Live II, however, does look much better than the first iteration, with the slightly squared design and the lower-profile platters at least making it look a little less toy-like than before. The plastic finish still feels the same, as does the action and resistance of the platters, knobs and faders (which is serviceable). The controls available give you everything you need to perform all the mixing basics, with high and low-frequency EQ, channel volume control, a crossfader, and even rudimentary scratching (though it really is more of a novelty). If you've ever used Djay for any amount of time though, you'll know that this is plenty enough to get a set going, and having the physical controller there just makes it all that more enjoyable / easy. While purists and old hands might see products such as these as over simplified, the ease of use, and broad appeal makes them ideal for the curious, and that can only be a good thing. Sadly there is no word on price or availability at this time, but we'd be surprised if it wasn't comfortably under $100 when it does finally make its way onto shelves. Check the video below for the hardware tour.
Billy Steele contributed to this report.
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/SV502XTMWcA/
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Jan. 24, 2013 ? Pulsars ? tiny spinning stars, heavier than the sun and smaller than a city ? have puzzled scientists since they were discovered in 1967.
Now, new observations by an international team, including University of Vermont astrophysicist Joanna Rankin, make these bizarre stars even more puzzling.
The scientists identified a pulsar that is able to dramatically change the way in which it shines. In just a few seconds, the star can quiet its radio waves while at the same time it makes its X-ray emissions much brighter.
The research ?challenges all proposed pulsar emission theories,? the team writes in the Jan. 25 edition of the journal Science and reopens a decades-old debate about how these stars work.
Unexpected X-rays
Like the universe?s most powerful lighthouses, pulsars shine beams of radio waves and other radiation for trillions of miles. As these highly magnetized neutron stars rapidly rotate, a pair of beams sweeps by, appearing as flashes or pulses in telescopes on Earth.
Using a satellite X-ray telescope, coordinated with two radio telescopes on the ground, the team observed a pulsar that was previously known to flip on and off every few hours between strong (or ?bright?) radio emissions and weak (or ?quiet?) radio emissions.
Monitoring simultaneously in X-rays and radio waves, the team revealed that this pulsar exhibits the same behaviour, but in reverse, when observed at X-ray wavelengths.
This is the first time that a switching X-ray emission has been detected from a pulsar.
Flipping between these two extreme states ? one dominated by X-ray pulses, the other by a highly organized pattern of radio pulses ? ?was very surprising,? says Rankin.
?As well as brightening in the X-rays we discovered that the X-ray emission also shows pulses, something not seen when the radio emission is bright,? said Rankin, who spearheaded the radio observations. ?This was completely unexpected.?
No current model of pulsars is able to explain this switching behavior. All theories to date suggest that X-ray emissions would follow radio emissions. Instead, the new observations show the opposite. ?The basic physics of a pulsar have never been solved,? Rankin says.
Looking for the switch
The research was conceived by a small team then working at the University of Amsterdam, including UVM?s Rankin, who has studied this pulsar, known as PSR B0943+10, for more than a decade; Wim Hermsen from SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research in Utrecht, and the lead author on the new paper; Ben Stappers from the University of Manchester, UK; and Geoff Wright from Sussex University, UK.
These researchers were joined by colleagues from institutions around the world to conduct simultaneous observations with the European Space Agency?s X-ray satellite, XMM-Newton, and two radio telescopes, the Giant Meter Wave Telescope (GMRT) in India and the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) in the Netherlands, to reveal this pulsar?s so-far unique behavior.
?There is a general agreement about the origin of the radio emission from pulsars: it is caused by highly energetic electrons, positrons and ions moving along the field lines of the pulsar's magnetic field,? explains Wim Hermsen.
?How exactly the particles are stripped off the neutron star's surface and accelerated to such high energy, however, is still largely unclear,? he adds.
By studying the emission from the pulsar at different wavelengths, the team?s study had been designed to discover which of various possible physical processes take place in the vicinity of the magnetic poles of pulsars.
Instead of narrowing down the possible mechanisms suggested by theory, however, the results of the team?s observing campaign challenge all existing models for pulsar emission. Few astronomical objects are as baffling as pulsars, and despite nearly fifty years of study, they continue to defy theorists? best efforts.
Of the more than 2,000 pulsars discovered to date, a number of them have erratic behavior, with emissions that can become weak or disappear in a matter of seconds but then suddenly return minutes or hours later.
B0943+10 is one of these erratic stars. Discovered at Pushchino Radio Astronomical Observatory near Moscow, ?this star has two very different personalities,? that were uncovered by Svetlana Suleymanova in the 1980s, says Rankin.
?But we?re still in the dark about what causes this, and other pulsars, to switch modes,? Rankin says. ?We just don?t know.?
?But the fact that the pulsar keeps memory of its previous state and goes back to it,? says Hermsen, ?suggests that it must be something fundamental."
Recent studies indicate that the switch between ?radio-bright? and ?radio-quiet? states is correlated to the pulsar's dynamics. As pulsars rotate, their spinning period slows down gradually, and in some cases the slow-down process has been observed to accelerate and slow down again, in conjunction with the pulsar switching between bright and quiet states.
This correlation between a pulsar?s rotation and its emission has led astronomers to wonder about a connection between the star?s surface and the much-larger surrounding magnetosphere, which may extend up for 30,000 miles.
These new observations ?strongly suggest that a temporary ?hotspot? appears close to the pulsar?s magnetic pole which switches on and off with the change of state,? says Geoff Wright, one of the team?s astronomers from the University of Sussex.
But the new results also suggest that something in the whole magnetosphere is changing suddenly and not just at the poles or other hotspots. ?Something is happening globally,? Rankin says, across the whole star.
In order for the radio emission to vary so radically on the short timescales observed, the pulsar's global environment must undergo a very rapid ? and reversible ? transformation.
?If that is true, it means the entire magnetosphere is alive and connected in very important ways,? Rankin says, allowing a change in the pulsar?s basic mode of shining in about one second, less time than it takes it to spin once on its axis.
?Since the switch between a pulsar's bright and quiet states links phenomena that occur on local and global scales, a thorough understanding of this process could clarify several aspects of pulsar physics,? says Hermsen. ?Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to explain it.?
No model works
The team planned to search for the same pattern in X-rays that has been observed in radio waves ? to investigate what causes this switching behavior. They chose as their subject PSR B0943+10, a pulsar that is well known for its switching behavior at radio wavelengths and for its X-ray emission, which is brighter than might be expected for its age.
?Young pulsars shine brightly in X-rays because the surface of the neutron star is still very hot. But PSR B0943+10 is five million years old, which is relatively old for a pulsar: the neutron star's surface has cooled down by then,? explains Hermsen.
Astronomers know of only a handful of old pulsars that shine in X-rays and believe that this emission comes from the magnetic poles ? the sites on the neutron star's surface where the acceleration of charged particles is triggered. ?We think that, from the polar caps, accelerated particles either move outwards to the magnetosphere, where they produce radio emission, or inwards, bombarding the polar caps and creating X-ray-emitting hot-spots,? Hermsen adds.
There are two main models that describe these processes, depending on whether the electric and magnetic fields at play allow charged particles to escape freely from the neutron star's surface. In both cases, it has been argued that the emission of X-rays follows that of radio waves.
Monitoring the pulsar in X-rays and radio waves at the same time, the astronomers hoped to be able to discern between the two models.
?The X-ray emission of pulsar PSR B0943+10 beautifully mirrors the switches that are seen at radio wavelengths but, to our surprise, the correlation between these two emissions appears to be inverse: when the source is at its brightest in radio waves, it reaches its faintest in X-rays, and vice versa,? says Hermsen.
The new data also show that the source pulsates in X-rays only during the X-ray-bright phase ? which corresponds to the quiet state at radio wavelengths. During this phase, the X-ray emission appears to be the sum of two components: a pulsating component consisting of thermal X-rays, which is seen to switch off during the X-ray-quiet phase, and a persistent one consisting of non-thermal X-rays.
Neither of the leading models for pulsar emission predicts such behavior.
In the second half of 2013, the team plans to repeat the same study for another pulsar, PSR B1822+09, which exhibits similar radio emission properties but with a different geometry.
In the meantime, these observations will keep theoretical astrophysicists busy investigating possible physical mechanisms that could cause the sudden and drastic changes to the pulsar's entire magnetosphere and result in such a curious flip in how they shine.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Vermont. The original article was written by Joshua E. Brown.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/K4Gau1iFpyQ/130124183444.htm
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Looking toward improved batteries for charging electric cars and storing energy from renewable but intermittent solar and wind, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed the first high-performance, nanostructured solid electrolyte for more energy-dense lithium ion batteries.
Today's lithium-ion batteries rely on a liquid electrolyte, the material that conducts ions between the negatively charged anode and positive cathode. But liquid electrolytes often entail safety issues because of their flammability, especially as researchers try to pack more energy in a smaller battery volume. Building batteries with a solid electrolyte, as ORNL researchers have demonstrated, could overcome these safety concerns and size constraints.
"To make a safer, lightweight battery, we need the design at the beginning to have safety in mind," said ORNL's Chengdu Liang, who led the newly published study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. "We started with a conventional material that is highly stable in a battery system ? in particular one that is compatible with a lithium metal anode."
The ability to use pure lithium metal as an anode could ultimately yield batteries five to 10 times more powerful than current versions, which employ carbon based anodes.
"Cycling highly reactive lithium metal in flammable organic electrolytes causes serious safety concerns," Liang said. "A solid electrolyte enables the lithium metal to cycle well, with highly enhanced safety."
The ORNL team developed its solid electrolyte by manipulating a material called lithium thiophosphate so that it could conduct ions 1,000 times faster than its natural bulk form. The researchers used a chemical process called nanostructuring, which alters the structure of the crystals that make up the material.
"Think about it in terms of a big crystal of quartz vs. very fine beach sand," said coauthor Adam Rondinone. "You can have the same total volume of material, but it's broken up into very small particles that are packed together. It's made of the same atoms in roughly the same proportions, but at the nanoscale the structure is different. And now this solid material conducts lithium ions at a much greater rate than the original large crystal."
The researchers are continuing to test lab scale battery cells, and a patent on the team's invention is pending.
"We use a room-temperature, solution-based reaction that we believe can be easily scaled up," Rondinone said. "It's an energy-efficient way to make large amounts of this material."
For information about industry collaboration opportunities, please visit the ORNL Partnerships website at http://www.ornl.gov/adm/partnerships/index.shtml.
The study is published as "Anomalous High Ionic Conductivity of Nanoporous ?-Li3PS4," and its ORNL coauthors are Zengcai Liu, Wujun Fu, Andrew Payzant, Xiang Yu, Zili Wu, Nancy Dudney, Jim Kiggans, Kunlun Hong, Adam Rondinone and Chengdu Liang. The work was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering in DOE's Office of Science.
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DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory: http://www.ornl.gov
Thanks to DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126440/Research_paves_way_for_larger__safer_lithium_ion_batteries
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