Android: If you have a tendency to ignore or sleep through alarms, Walk Me Up can help by forcing you to get out of bed and move around.
The app uses your phone's accelerometer to count the number of steps you take after the alarm goes off. If you try to accelerate the process by shaking your phone, the counter resets. You can also set the alarm to vibrate, though that comes with the warning that this could interfere with the step count, depending on your phone.
WATERMAN ??Saturday was one of the busiest nights for Pub West bar in Waterman. Waiters and bartenders worked frantically to serve their customers.
The customers were all there for the same reason: to support the fight against breast cancer.
Three old high school friends ? Larry Meredith, Chuck Wesenberg and Bob Strausberger ? participated in a singing competition called Old Fat Guy Idol. All proceeds went toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Meredith helped raise money because he is walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure, which is a 60-mile journey in August that takes place over three days.
It costs $2,390 for an individual to participates.
?Larry is dead set trying to find a cure for this nasty disease,? Strausberger said. ?I?m going to jump on board and try to help him the best I can. They would have done the same for me.?
The event raised about $4,441, which is $700 less than last year, said Lisa Youngdahl, event organizer.
Meredith said he will use the extra money they raised to help fund other walkers? journeys.
?If it means other people can?t walk, then why should I keep the money?? he said.
The three singers each sang three songs, then sang together in the final round. Buckets with each singer?s name were placed in front of the stage so people could choose who their favorite was throughout the night.
Strausberger won the competition, meaning he raised the most money. He also won last year.
The singers performed with a band, whose members traveled as far as Michigan to play for free. It is the only gig the band does together all year, Wesenberg said.
?The band has put in 10 times the amount of hours than we have,? Strausberger said. ?They drove hours and hours and hours.?
DeKalb resident Pat Herrmann appreciated how many people donated their time and money for no benefit of their own, he said.
?There are no losers here tonight,? Herrmann said. ?That?s the beautiful thing.?
Each woman who entered the bar received a pink rose made of balsam wood. Strausberger?s wife, Karin, passed them out to people.
The roses each had a ribbon tied to them, which Karin Strausberger tied herself. The ribbons had the symbol of breast cancer, a pink ribbon, printed on them.
There also was a raffle for the event. People could win a range of prizes from baked treats to free zumba classes.
Jeff Hart brought his pink tractor to the event. He painted the tractor pink because his mom and his friend?s mom both had breast cancer.
Hart?s tractor participates in tractor pulls, and the money he makes also goes to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Youngdahl said she researched the foundation because of the recent controversy. The Susan G. Komen Foundation eliminated financing breast cancer screening run by Planned Parenthood last year, which upset some people.
?They put a lot of money for preventative services and screenings where people don?t have a lot of money to do it,? Youngdahl said.
People can still donate to Meredith?s cause. Go to www.oldfatguyidol.com and click on ?Vote Online.?
Since the voting has closed, it doesn?t matter who you vote for. All proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
There are 41 hours, 32 minutes remaining to comment on this story.
We have empty space above our heads, that almost extends to infinity. Neither we can define it, mark any boundaries on it, nor we can keep anything in it as the object is bound to get pulled one way or the other by the gravity of some large planet or by some other star if it is in deep space. If someone talks about ownership of this space, the chances are that he is either a poet, someone heading to a corrective institute for lunatics or a budding dictator.
Yet, there is a specific region in space, where nations of the earth are entitled to ownership. This region consists of a single ring above the equator, approximately 35,800 km high up into space and is known as a Geostationary orbit and many more rings that are inclined to this ring above equator. A satellite placed at this height is pulled by gravitational forces of earth and moon in such a way that they exactly balance out each other, or in other words, a satellite placed here will move in an orbit with exactly same speed as that of earth. This means that for an observer on earth, the satellite appears stationary all the time. Such a satellite is extremely useful for communications and TV transmissions. Similar to Geostationary orbit, there are Geosynchronous orbits, which essentially are similar rings in space inclined to Geostationary orbit.
The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is responsible for issues that concern information and communication technologies. ITU's responsibilities include amongst others, coordination of the shared global use of the radio spectrum and international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits. Speaking in simple terms, ITU assigns slots on geostationary orbits to various nations, where they can place their own satellites for communications and TV transmissions. India has slots assigned to it by ITU and has placed there as many as 15 satellites so far.
Launching and maintaining satellites in Geo stationary orbits is an expensive job and very few countries of the world have capability and capacity to build, launch and maintain geosynchronous satellites. In Asia. Japan, India, Korea and China have this capability. It is customary that technologically-accomplished countries launch a satellite and provide a large number of services to a smaller country.
Research and Analysis wing or RAW, India's premier intelligence gathering service, has recently come out with reports, in which they have pointed out about Chinese plans and efforts for one-upmanship in space above Asia or in particular above south Asia. China' Great Wall Industry Corporation along with Colombo-based SupremeSAT Pvt. Ltd. in Sri Lanka, has signed an agreement with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, to launch a communication satellite. It also has plans for a space academy-cum- satellite ground station at Kandy. Similarly Chinese have proposed to Maldives, for a joint venture to launch satellites. Both these countries along with other neighbours of India, have vacant orbital slots but lack of expertise or the resources to put up satellites on their own.?
?
RAW has reported that India's Indian Spece Research Organization ISRO, is indifferent to its neighbours? needs and feels that ISRO should have been proactive in helping Sri Lanka and Maldives fill up their allocated orbital slots. After this prodding by RAW, ISRO appears to have got into act. It has now proposed to Sri Lanka that India would offer to build and launch satellites for Colombo. In an official statement it says ?A mutually beneficial cooperation arrangement for building satellites and operating them with increased coverage areas over India can be worked out so that capabilities [of] satellites can be used by both the countries.? ISRO also held talks with Maldives last week on this subject. ISRO's commercial wing; Antrix Corporation is now expected to put in an alternative proposal.
Regarding Sri Lanka, India's department of space thinks that Sri Lanka?s space programme project was at a very early stage and India could still get into the game. Though much depends on the attitude of the Sri Lanka's Mahinda Rajapaksa government post India?s stand at the UN Human Rights Council.
The rivalry between these two Asian nations is now getting extended to space also. India should perhaps help and offer such collaborations and agreements to countries like Vietnam in Indochina region as a befitting reply to Chinese one-up-manship in south Asia.
Some people might find prescription medication valuable. Exactly the same medicines that effectively handle despression symptoms and stress and anxiety can offer enhancements for tinnitus symptoms. Request your doctor if these drugs will work inside your condition. You are able to set a prescribed medication together with treatment methods like biofeedback to improve your results. In case your physician is letting you know that the tinnitus is untreatable, you have to speak to one more medical professional. This will likely isolate the music vibrations and end out any sound that you?re ability to hear currently. When you arrive the volume as well deafening, your listening to are affected more harm. Make yourself a relaxed sleeping regimen every night.Ringing in the ears may affect peoples? potential to reach sleep at night and stay in bed. A calming bed time routine can really help you to get a excellent night?s sleep at night. This should help you chill out and keep your blood pressure. Try and get adequate sleep, workout, and healthy food items. Get no less than 8-10 hrs of relaxing rest each night, eat healthful foods without excess several times per day and have a health and fitness strategy. Those who have ringing in the ears handle it far better when they are wholesome. In spite of the ringing in ears, consuming possession of your respective health implies recovering control over your entire lifestyle. Try and decrease your life.If you can to accomplish this, you can find your self a lot less seriously influenced by your condition. Create a relax bed time regimen that you can do evening. Ringing in ears can affect peoples? capacity to get to rest and remain sleeping. A restful bedtime can really help you to get a excellent night?s rest. This helps you loosen up and it also brings down hypertension lower. Attempt to keep away from anxiety, to assist with the tinnitus signs or symptoms personal loan . Make an effort to reduce unneeded tension through your existence, then find a chance to loosen up. Tinnitus is really a illness however it is an issue that triggers frustration and can impact your daily life. There are lots of various root leads to for tinnitus. This doesn?t mean it could not manage tinnitus. The following tips may help you deal with your tinnitus better. Usually do not allow ringing in ears as you at home. If it is way too very much, place a fan in your rooms, or some form of white-noise equipment. In case you have a great noise in your bedrooms, your ringing in the ears may only trouble you if you are out of the house and too preoccupied to be worried. A sonic cushion came to be with all the goal of ringing in the ears. This cushion was experimented with by troopers who injury up affected by ringing in the ears through the war and came residence with hearing ringing. A mass manufacturing design might shortly by made available to most people. A sonic pillow was created that can help decrease the signs of ringing in the ears. This cushion was experimented with by soldiers who injury up struggling with ringing in ears during the conflict and whom came back property with hearing ringing. A volume generated design is near to being offered to most people. Find out more about the appears to be you have with your ringing in ears. Read up on tinnitus, and speak with medical professionals about this. Anxiety follows fear, so reduce oneself of these debilitating aspects as a way to operate towards a successful recovery. Having a history noise from stereo or tv can assist you concentrate on groundwork or organization duties, but it is proven to be of help to ringing in ears victims. Ringing in the ears is truly the reaction to a person?s ability to hear simply being in contact with machinery disturbances, including aircraft, equipment or noisy construction job. If this kind of coverage is part of the daily work, put money into some little earplugs to guard yourself. To assist you handle ringing in ears on an daily schedule, tend not to endure by itself. For example, compare your condition to owning to listen to a horrible sound, or the method that you can?t check out a actually noisy show with out hearing plugs. This will aid them to recognize how they can support you when you deal with tinnitus, and help your loved ones understand what it seems like to have with ringing in the ears. Make an effort to recall whether you commenced any new drugs about the same time frame your ringing in the ears signs or symptoms started out. Numerous drugs might cause ringing in the ears, to be able swap prescription drugs and remove the ringing inside your the ears. If possible, along with your physician?s attention, attempt stopping every drug individually for the 7 days to find out if your listening to difficulties also quit. If you want to allow yourself respite from ringing in the ears, you should think about getting points within your surroundings which might be leading to they signs and symptoms or which makes them even worse. Some stimulant drugs to take into account staying away from are coffee, coffee, along with contra ?inflamed pain-killer. Be mindful that the daily stress could be even more compared to they as soon as were. If you have a great deal of stress, including the most minimal of discomforts can be exacerbated.You can expect to feel good prepared to handle your tinnitus if you aren?t so stressed about other difficulties. To deal with ringing in the ears, be sure you have individuals around who value you and also support you. For example, compare your trouble to getting to hear a horrible seem, or maybe the noisy noises of any party when you are seeking to rest. This makes it which means you won?t must experience all by yourself, and you may sense a lot more linked. You just might acquire medication for the tinnitus struggling. Exactly the same prescription drugs that efficiently treat depression and stress and anxiety have been shown to assist ease tinnitus signs and symptoms.Question your medical professional if these drugs might help your circumstances. You really should think about including treatment with option treatment solutions like biofeedback to improve your results. Do something to make sure you will never get ringing in ears. There are many methods for you to deal with it, and a few techniques to avoid it. So use the information and facts out of this post to enable you to approach working with ringing in ears when it is bugging you. Are you ready to understand more about how to approach ringing in ears alternatively? This can be an issue that holds true. Ringing in ears typically isn?t linked to a pathological conditions. Tinnitus isn?t entertaining, but there?s no need to enter into worry mode. This directs seem into the ears to terminate out any you could have been ability to hear from the inside.When you generate the amount as well high in volume, your hearing may suffer much more harm.
BOSTON (Reuters) - The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings lay seriously wounded and unable to speak in a hospital on Saturday as investigators worked to determine a motive and whether the two ethnic Chechen brothers accused of the attack acted alone.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured late on Friday after a gunfight with police that ended a daylong manhunt and sent waves of relief and jubilation throughout Boston. His brother, Tamerlan, 26, died on early Friday after a shootout with police.
Dzhokhar had been hiding in a boat parked in the backyard of a house in the suburb of Watertown and was captured after a resident spotted blood on the boat and called police. He was being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Investigators are trying to establish whether the pair had assistance leading up to the detonation of bombs made in pressure cookers and packed with ball bearings and nails at the crowded finish line of Monday's marathon, killing three people and injuring 176.
Tamerlan, 26, traveled to Moscow in January 2012 and spent six months in the region, a law enforcement source said, but it was unclear what he did while he was there and if he could have had contact with militant Islamist groups in southern Russia's restive Caucasus region.
Early indications are the brothers acted alone, Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau told CNN on Saturday. "From what I know right now, these two acted together and alone," he said. "But as far as this little ... group, I think we got our guys."
Still, the bombings prompted contact between the United States and Russia on terrorism, and the Kremlin said on Saturday the presidents of both countries agreed by telephone to increase cooperation on counterterrorism.
The FBI, who interviewed Tamerlan in 2011 after he was flagged by Russian authorities, believes the older brother was the leader of the pair, although investigators were checking on people who had contact with both brothers to see if anyone else was involved, a senior U.S. law enforcement source said.
Ruslan Tsarni, who said he was an uncle of the brothers, told CNN on Saturday he first noticed a change in Tamerlan Tsarnaev's religious views in 2009. He said the radicalization of his nephew happened "in the streets of Cambridge (Massachusetts)."
More details of the brother's lives were emerging. Tamerlane was married to Katherine Russell, whose family lives in an upper middle-class neighborhood in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Her father is licensed as an emergency room physician. The couple had a young child.
"She changed her attire completely. When she left, she was a normal American girl and when she returned after the first year, her appearance had changed completely and she wore a headscarf. Soon she had a baby," said Paula Gillette a neighbor of the Russell family in North Kingstown.
A statement on the door of the family's home read: "Our daughter has lost her husband today, the father of her child. We cannot being to comprehend how this horrible tragedy occurred."
'NOT YET ABLE TO SPEAK'
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was shot in the throat and could not speak because of injuries to his tongue, said a source close to the investigation. It was unclear when he would be able to talk or when he would be charged.
"It's serious ... he's not yet able to speak," Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told reporters on Saturday. "We have a million questions and those questions need to be answered."
A U.S. Justice Department official said on Saturday night there would be no further news conference the rest of the day, suggesting Dzhokhar would not be charged before Sunday at the earliest.
The FBI said it did not find any "terrorism activity" when it interviewed Tamerlan in 2011 at the request of a foreign government - identified by a law enforcement source as Russia - after Moscow raised concerns he followed radical Islam. After that, he appears to have dropped off the radar of U.S. authorities.
President Barack Obama said on Friday after the capture that questions remained from the bombings, including whether the two suspects received any help. Obama has described the bombings an act of terrorism.
On Saturday evening, a vast motorcade of police cars with blue lights flashing escorted the hearse carrying the body of Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, along a Boston street. He was shot multiple times in his car on Thursday night as the brothers tried to evade capture.
"It's a good show of solidarity for our brother officer killed by the cowards," said William Gross, a Boston police superintendent.
Life in Boston began to return to normal on Saturday as the Red Sox returned to Fenway Park for the first time since the bombings, paying an emotional tribute to the victims and the first responders before their baseball game.
PARENTS SAY SONS FRAMED
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and is believed to have been on the college campus on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, said a university official, citing witnesses, swipe cards and security cameras.
The family emigrated to the United States about a decade ago. The brothers spent their early years in a small community of Chechens in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim nation of 5.5 million. The family moved in 2001 to Dagestan, a southern Russian province that lies at the heart of a violent Islamist insurgency and where their parents now live.
In separate interviews, the parents of the Tsarnaev brothers said they believed their sons were incapable of carrying out the bombings. Others remembered the brothers as friendly and respectful youths who never stood out or caused alarm.
"Somebody clearly framed them. I don't know who exactly framed them, but they did. They framed them. And they were so cowardly that they shot the boy dead," father Anzor Tsarnaev said in an interview with Reuters in Dagestan's provincial capital, Makhachkala, clasping his head in despair.
ENEMY COMBATANT?
On Saturday, several Republican lawmakers called on Obama to try Tsarnaev as an "enemy combatant" under terms of war, without entitlement to Miranda rights - usually given by police to suspects before they are interrogated so statements can be admissible in court.
Authorities did not read the teenager the Miranda warning.
A Justice Department official said the government was invoking the public safety exception to Miranda to question the suspect extensively about other potential explosive devices or accomplices and to gain critical intelligence.
The Federal Public Defender Office said on Saturday it would represent Tsarnaev once charges were filed.
After combing through a mass of pictures and video from the site in the minutes before the Boston marathon bombing, the FBI publicized pictures of the two men on Thursday and asked the public for help in identifying them.
Just hours later, events began to unfold with the fatal shooting of on the MIT campus and finally the Watertown firefight, during which police say the brothers threw bombs at officers. Tamerlan suffered fatal wounds, while Dzhokhar escaped on foot.
(Additional reporting by Martinne Geller, Tabassum Zakaria, Mark Hosenball, John Shiffman, Jim Bourg, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Daniel Lovering, Ben Berkowitz, Barbara Goldberg, Ed Krudy and Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Edward Krudy; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Vicki Allen and Peter Cooney)
MIAMI (Reuters) - When the U.S. Treasury Department approved a cultural trip to Cuba last week, it had no idea that those traveling included American pop superstar Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay-Z, according to people familiar with the four-day visit.
The trip was handled according to a standard licensing procedure for federally approved "people-to-people" cultural tours to the island, and the power couple received no special treatment, said Academic Arrangements Abroad, the New York-based nonprofit group that organized the trip.
The trip caused a stir because of the high profile of Beyonce and Jay-Z. A longstanding U.S. trade embargo against communist-led Cuba bars most Americans from traveling there without a license from the U.S. government, and specifically prohibits tourism.
Three Cuban American members of Congress, all Republicans from Florida and supporters of a firm stance on Cuba, asked the Treasury Department to look into the licensing of the trip, prompting officials to seek a full accounting of the itinerary and travel documents from the organizers, according to Academic Arrangements Abroad.
U.S. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart said the trip was being used for Cuban government propaganda, while Senator Marco Rubio complained that the travel programs "have been abused by tourists."
If the trip was licensed, the Obama administration "should explain exactly how trips like these comply with U.S. law and regulations governing travel to Cuba," he said in a statement on Monday.
INDIVIDUALS NOT SCRUTINIZED
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which administers the sanctions including the granting of licenses for travel to Cuba, does not comment on individual cases.
But licenses for people-to-people trips to the island are granted to travel organizations and not individuals, according to the Treasury Department regulations.
Approval is largely based on ensuring that the itinerary meets legal guidelines as cultural travel, and no advance notice of the individuals traveling to Cuba is required.
The regulations were updated last year after a battle in Congress led by Rubio, who successfully sought to include more stringent language to deter tourist circumvention of the law.
U.S. officials became aware of the names of the 12 people traveling in Beyonce and Jay-Z's group, including their mothers and two private security guards, only when the group showed up at Miami International Airport last Wednesday for the flight to Havana.
Academic Arrangements Abroad has organized numerous trips to Cuba for U.S. organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brookings Institution think tank, as well as Princeton, Dartmouth and Rice universities.
All 12 participants of last week's trip carried letters from the licensed people-to-people sponsor of the trip, and the requisite affidavits declaring that they would stick to the approved itinerary, according to Marazul, the Miami-based charter company that operated their Cuba flight.
'LOOKS VERY TYPICAL'
Beyonce and Jay-Z, who celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana, are the highest-profile American celebrities to visit the island in recent years.
But their trip was no different from hundreds of similar tours that take place every year under Treasury Department licenses, say Cuba travel experts.
OFAC also administers general licenses for individual travel by Cuban Americans, and for educational and religious reasons.
So far Beyonce and Jay-Z have not spoken to the media about the trip and publicists for the couple did not return emails or phone calls seeking comment.
A person familiar with the itinerary said it involved no meetings with Cuban officials, or typical tourist activities such as beach trips. There were visits with Cuban artists, musicians, and dancers, as well as to nightclubs with live music and to a children's theater group.
"That all looks very typical of what we do," said Tom Popper, president of Insight Cuba, a division of Cross Cultural Solutions a nonprofit international volunteer organization on the outskirts of New York.
Insight Cuba organizes about 150 tours to Cuba a year, including music and arts-focused visits similar to Beyonce and Jay-Z's trip. Beach-going is never included, to comply with regulations. Other U.S. firms sponsor people-to-people trips.
The number of U.S. visitors to Cuba has shot up in the last two years, topping 500,000 in 2011, the Cuban Tourism Ministry says. Most were Cuban Americans visiting relatives, but about 90,000 were other Americans mostly traveling on licensed visits, Cuban officials say.
People-to-people cultural trips to Cuba were first promoted under President Bill Clinton in 2000 and were halted by President George W. Bush in 2003. They were revived by the Obama administration to encourage more contact between Americans and Cubans, separated by the 90-mile (140-kilometer) Florida Strait and more than half a century of ideological differences.
(Reporting By David Adams; Editing by Frances Kerry and Xavier Briand)
HTC CEO Peter Chou with the Facebook heavy HTC First
?
What does Walt Mossberg, the world's most influential personal technology, writer think of Facebook's new phone?
After reading his review, it's hard to tell.
Mossberg reviewed the HTC First, the first smartphone to launch with Facebook's Android take-over software pre-loaded. For the most part he skipped talking about the hardware, which is just middling. He focused on the software.
On the one hand, Mossberg says, "I found Facebook Home to be easy to use, elegantly designed and addictive."
On the other hand, "I found some downsides," says Mossberg. For instance, you can't get quick access to the camera. You can't put weather widgets on your lock screen, and you lose access to a grid of commonly used apps in your home screen.
The negatives seem to outweigh the positives, here.
But, Mossberg concludes by saying, "Facebook Home is a very clever and very well-done product that will delight Facebook fans. If you aren?t in that category, or prefer the standard Android user interface, it won?t be right for you."
So, basically, if you're a hardcore Facebook user, go for it. Otherwise, skip it.
P.S. We'll be getting our own review unit shortly, so we'll have a full review of our own.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? A 6.1 magnitude earthquake killed at least three people in a sparsely populated area in the country's south, state TV reported on Tuesday.
The report said the earthquake struck the town of Kaki some 96 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bushehr, a town on the Persian Gulf that is home of Iran's first nuclear power plant. The Iranian media originally reported that the quake hit nearby Khormooj.
Shahpour Rostami, the deputy governor of Bushehr province told state TV that rescue teams have been deployed to Shomneh, the most damaged district in the region.
Kaki resident Mondani Hosseini told the Associated Press that people had run out into the streets out of fear.
Two helicopters were sent to survey the damaged area before sunset, Mohammad Mozaffar, the head of the province's rescue department said.
The quake was felt across the Gulf in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, where workers were evacuated from high-rise buildings as a precaution.
Earlier on Sunday a lighter earthquake jolted the nearby area. Iran is located on seismic faults and it experiences daily light earthquakes.
In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a 6.6 magnitude quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.
Sex, sex, sex, oh and more sex. With some humor and fandom thrown in. I love anyone that can challenge me, so come at me bro! *NOTE* this page is under construction as I figure out this newfangled Tumblr thing*
Addressing a packed auditorium at Austin?s South by Southwest festival last March, Bre Pettis, keynote speaker and co-founder of MakerBot, one of the leaders in desktop 3-D printers, described the increased interest and affordability of his company?s product as heralding the ?the next Industrial Revolution.?
"Revolution" is often used even when the result doesn't match the definition ? a complete change from the way things were before. Add "Industrial," and the comparison implies not just a change in manufacturing, but society as well, from improved living standards to changes in social class structure. Whether ? and how ? desktop 3-D printing can bring such changes is much debated, and remains to be seen.
Thanks to companies such as MakerBot, the bulk, expense and technical inefficiency that kept the 30-year-old technology known as Additive Manufacturing ? or 3-D printing ? confined to major laboratories and factories, is a thing of the past. Now, for less than $3,000, anyone with basic computer skills and an interest in learning more can download and personalize or create a computer-assisted design (CAD) that a printer will fabricate, layer by layer of filament.
Pettis is not the first to make the ?next Industrial Revolution? comparison. For some within the maker community ? subculture of tech-based do-it-yourself-ers ? the increased accessibility of 3-D printer technology means "the end of consumerism.? Conversely, tech analysis firms Gartner predicts that 3-D printing could create opportunities for new product lines created in-house by local retailers. And Daniel Suarez, who spent a decade developing logistics and production planning software for major multinational corporations (and is also a best-selling novelist who writes about near-future technologies) predicts that "3-D printing will be a disruptive economic force in the next two decades ? but I also think this disruption will benefit average Americans by causing a resurgence in local manufacturing."
Fervor over 3-D printing?s potential has only increased since SXSW, when Pettis introduced a prototype for the MakerBot Digitizer, which will scan small objects with the end goal of 3-D fabrication. He illustrated the Digitizer?s potential with a projection of a garden gnome, scanned to create ? another garden gnome.
For those who don?t so much see an endless supply of home-printed garden gnomes as ?revolution,? so much as a shot at getting on A&E?s ?Hoarders,? there?s Cody Wilson, the notorious public face of Defense Distributed. Wilson is a University of Texas law student recently licensed to manufacture guns by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In March, Defense Distributed, much to the consternation of gun control advocates, printed the plastic lower receiver for an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle ? the portion of a firearm that carries the serial number ? which that can fire more than 600 rounds.
Scary, legal and ? as Wilson points out ? a 3-D printed result that actually does something.
Wilson latched on to Pettis?s garden gnome to express his frustration with the maker community to make something more than geegaws during his riveting yet sparsely attended SXSW presentation about Defense Distributed and DefCAD, an open-source CAD design website he launched after MakerBot?s Thingiverse CAD site dumped all the gun designs from the site following the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
A cursory scan on Thingiverse finds a sea of files to create iPhone cases, and myriad holders and stands, but other than clock components, parts to complete a cigar box ukulele, and a theoretical design for a working camera, there isn?t a lot on the open source data base that does stuff.
Wilson is using the platform of 3-D printing to make a political statement about? and push the boundaries of ? liberty and the freedom to share information. ?I think this isn't a project about firearms, it?s a project about political equality,? Wilson recently told NBC?s Nightly News.
The potential Wilson sees for for 3-D printers isn't just about guns, but prosthetics and other medical devices, even drugs, putting the means of production in the hands of the people.
Pettis and Wilson are often portrayed as polar opposites in the 3-D printer movement, but they both face the inevitable roadblock of all new digital technology ? intellectual copyright law.
"When it comes to 3-D printers, groups producing tools, weapons, and reproducing patented or copyrighted objects will be where all the debate and legal fireworks will occur," Suarez told NBC News.
"Sure, a copyright holder might get upset when individuals reproduce their trademarked cartoon character as little plastic tchotchkes, but I suspect this will follow the same path as digital music and torrented video ? namely, there will be several high profile legal cases against perceived infringers until big companies realize technological advances have made this an unstoppable tide."
And so begins the revolution.
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her she doesn't know what she's talking about on Twitter and/or Facebook.
Robert V. Remini, an award-winning scholar of Andrew Jackson and 19th century politics who viewed Washington firsthand in the 21st century when he became the official historian for the U.S. House of Representatives, has died. He was 91.
Remini, who retired from the House in 2010, died March 28 at Evanston Hospital after suffering a stroke, the University of Illinois at Chicago announced in a news release. Remini was a professor emeritus at the school.
Learned, readable and productive, Remini wrote and co-authored more than 20 books, starting in 1959 with "Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party." On Jackson alone, he completed at least 10 books, including an influential trilogy of which the finale won the National Book Award in 1984. Benjamin Walker, star of the Broadway musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson," has said he read Remini as part of his research.
Rep. Dennis Hastert, a fellow Illinois resident and then-Speaker, appointed Remini historian of the House in 2005. Three years earlier, Remini had been asked by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington to write a Congressional history, "The House," for which Remini interviewed legislators and sat in on Congressional proceedings, was published in 2006.
Remini also wrote biographies of President John Quincy Adams, the celebrated orator Daniel Webster and Mormon founder Joseph Smith. He was openly unhappy with the recent divisions in Congress and wrote often about the days when deals among enemies could be reached, including the pre-Civil War history "At the Edge of the Precipice: Henry Clay and the Compromise that Saved the Union," published in 2010.
Remini himself was willing to take sides. In "A Short History of the United States," which came out in 2008, he wrote that the Bush administration had been "itching to start a war with Iraq" and faulted the conflict as futile, poorly managed and expensive. Remini also criticized Bush as indifferent to civil liberties and for successfully pushing through tax cuts that favored the rich.
A steady admirer of Jackson, who was among the country's most idolized and divisive presidents, Remini celebrated him as a self-made man, patriot and populist who opened up American society and government and resisted his fellow Southerners' desire to secede. Remini noted Jackson's harsh positions on slavery and the treatment of Indians, but still found that Jackson "profoundly assisted" the country's "rise to greatness" and "proved for all time the reality and splendor of the American dream."
Historian Andrew R.L. Cayton would declare that Remini was "as tenacious a champion as any president could ever hope to have." Remini came of age when scholars followed the "great man" theory of history, history as determined by individuals with power. He was tougher on Jackson than previous biographers, notably Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., but was still criticized on occasion as too close to his subject.
"He has mastered in all their complex detail the many issues and events of Jackson's private and public life, but in doing so he has come to see the world too much from Jackson's point of view," historian John William Ward wrote in The New York Times in 1981 as he reviewed the trilogy's second volume.
"If ... we want to know more about Andrew Jackson, there is no better place to turn than this book. If, however, we wish to know more about the shaping of our society, which has entered into the shaping of ourselves, then we will have to turn somewhere else."
A native of New York, Remini was born in 1921. He grew up during the Great Depression, but thanks to his winning a scholarship from the Mothers Club of Long Island, he became the first of his family to attend college. He was an undergraduate at Fordham University, received a master's and Ph.D from Columbia University and spent much of his academic career in the history department of the University of Illinois in Chicago.
During World War II, he served in the Navy. He had planned to become a lawyer, but found himself reading history during idle times at sea. At Columbia after the war, he studied for his master's degree under Richard Hofstadter, then a new faculty member, but eventually an influential and popular historian who helped set Remini's scholarly path.
Remini had wanted to write his thesis on John Purroy Mitchell, a New York City mayor in the early 20th century. But Hofstadter told him that Mitchell's papers were not available and suggested Remini try Van Buren ? a 19th century New Yorker, the country's eighth president and an architect of the modern party system. Hofstadter's idea was not spontaneous: Columbia had received a grant to acquire microfilm copies of New York history documents, Van Buren's papers would be obtained first and the school needed a graduate student to review them.
Throughout his research on Van Buren, Remini was drawn to Jackson, a close ally of Van Buren's whose life was "demanding" the attention of the young scholar. After his Van Buren book was published, Remini wrote his first Jackson biography, "The Election of Andrew Jackson," and continued his research through the decades.
By the 1990s, he was sure he knew everything of worth about Jackson only to learn that a document had been discovered in Italy revealing that as a young man Jackson had sworn allegiance to the King of Spain.
"That information came as quite a blow," Remini wrote. "I was staggered. I couldn't believe it. But the facts were indisputable."
Remini married Ruth T. Kuhner in 1948. They had three children.
Liberals and Republicans alike on Friday criticized President Barack Obama's plan to offer in his budget April 10 an inflation formula that will slow the growth of Social Security and veterans benefits.
Progressives reacted negatively to the news that the president will propose a different way to measure the consumer price index, one referred to as "chained CPI," which is supported by key Republicans in Congress. Chained CPI will lower annual cost-of-living increases for entitlements including Social Security and Medicare and benefits for disabled veterans?reasons why chained CPI is opposed by some Democrats, progressives and others.
A senior administration official said on Friday that chained CPI will be offered in the hopes of getting Republicans to bend on closing tax-cut loopholes for top earners to create revenue and lower the deficit.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of Congress' most outspoken liberals and a vehement opponent of chained CPI, warned Obama on Friday morning not to renege on his promise to avoid cuts to entitlement programs and veterans benefits as a way to reduce the deficit.
?Millions of working people, seniors, disabled veterans, those who have lost a loved one in combat, and women will be extremely disappointed if President Obama caves into the long standing Republican effort to cut Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans and their survivors through a so-called chained CPI,? he said in a statement.
Others on the "left" also expressed warnings to the president after news of the chained CPI proposal.
"You can't call yourself a Democrat and support Social Security benefit cuts," Stephanie Taylor, Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder, said in a statement. "The president is proposing to steal thousands of dollars from grandparents and veterans by cutting cost of living adjustments, and any congressional Democrat who votes for such a plan should be ready for a primary challenge. Social Security is the core of the progressive and Democratic legacy. The president has no mandate to cut these benefits, and progressives will do everything possible to stop him."
Supporters, including many members of Congress, say chained CPI is a more accurate way to measure inflation and reduce spending.
Though the CPI offer is designed to appeal to Republicans, it's nothing new. A chained CPI provision has been part of each of the president's "grand bargain" proposals to Republicans, which they've rejected because of tax raises.
House Speaker John Boehner, as expected, issued criticism on Friday about the president's budget, suggesting the CPI proposal is still just a political move to raise taxes.
"If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there's no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes. That?s no way to lead and move the country forward," Boehner said in a statement.
Criticism from both parties was expected, and the president's budget is never passed in full by Congress, but it will play an important role in the negotiating process.
The president's budget, according to the senior administration official, will also:
-Aim to reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years
-Increase tobacco taxes to cover the president's universal pre-K program
-Close a loophole that currently permits individuals to simultaneously collect full disability and unemployment benefits
-Set limits on tax-preferred retirement accounts for millionaires and billionaires
The president's budget by law was due Feb. 4 of this year. Republicans have criticized the administration for missing that deadline for what Republicans contend is a political maneuver designed to put Congress out front in what is expected to be a challenging budget negotiation process.
The father of a Georgia boy who committed suicide says his son was the victim of cruel bullying at school. WLTZ's Sara Belsole reports.
By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News
A 13-year-old Georgia boy who hanged himself after reportedly being bullied at school was remembered by family and friends as a hero at his funeral this week.
Devin Brown moved to Columbus, Ga., six months ago to live with his father, who says the bullying began shortly after Devin started at his new middle school, according to NBC affiliate WLTZ-TV in Georgia.
"He got jumped, or somebody beat him up," Ray Brown, Devin's father, told WLTZ. "He came home one time and had some peanut butter pies he had made for school. When he walked through the door he had some pie left, and he had it all over him. Someone had jumped on him and smeared it all over him."
Brown voiced his concerns to Rothschild Middle School, but officials told him they hadn't heard of any issues, he said.
"They just kind of let it go," Brown said.?
It wasn't until last Thursday night that Devin's family realized how far the bullying had gone.
"I hear [my stepmother yelling,] 'Oh my God, Ray, Ray, help me! I can't get him down, he hung himself,'" Cara Downs, Devin's older sister, told WLTZ.?"I could see the black and blue around his neck and I tried to find a pulse, but couldn't find it."
Brown believes being called a "snitch" at school pushed Devin over the edge. He told WLTZ that the day Devin took his life, he saw another student carrying a knife and threatening a teacher. Brown said Devin?told his teacher about the knife; the other student was given disciplinary action.
"He said, 'Everyone is calling me a snitch,'" Brown said. "He said, 'There's about 15-20 people who want to jump on me.'"
Muscogee County School District's director of communications told NBC News she could not confirm there was threat to a teacher, but she said a knife was found.
"It was discovered upon search in the student's locker. And of course any student discipline, while I can't talk about particular student discipline, was handled according to policy," Valerie Fuller said.?
At his funeral on Wednesday, a large wooden box with the word "hero" carved on it was set up. Devin's friends dropped notes into it, thanking him for speaking up about the threat he saw at school, reported WLTZ.
"I made this for him because he is my hero. He did the right thing and he knew he did the right thing," Brown told the affiliate.
On Devin's gravestone, the inscription read: "You left too soon, but forever wouldn't have been long enough. Our hero - Devin Brown."
This story was originally published on Fri Apr 5, 2013 12:49 PM EDT
Moffitt Cancer Center researchers discuss new frontiers in breast cancer screeningPublic release date: 5-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Polacek kim.polacek@moffitt.org 813-745-7408 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Researchers say 'optimal breast cancer screening will ultimately require a personalized approach'
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center predict that advancements in breast cancer screening will need a personalized touch because mammography is not a "one strategy fits all" technology.
Their review "Beyond Mammography: New Frontiers in Breast Cancer Screening" appears in the April 4 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
"Although mammography remains the gold standard for breast cancer screening, there is increasing awareness that there are subpopulations of women for whom mammography is limited because of its reduced sensitivity based on an individual's breast density and other factors," said study lead author Jennifer S. Drukteinis, M.D., assistant member in Moffitt's Department of Diagnostic Imaging.
The writers refer to a controversial disagreement on mammography screening issues. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of health care professionals charged with reviewing published research and making health care policy recommendations, issued guidelines that women should get mammograms every two years starting at age 50. They recommended against screening before 50. Their recommendation generated great controversy, even outrage, because of a well-established convention recommending mammography screening beginning at 40 and, for those with a first-degree relative with breast cancer, screening should start a decade before that relative's age at diagnosis.
"At present, the task force is the only group or consensus panel in the United States recommending breast cancer screenings to begin at age 50," said study co-author Blaise P. Mooney, M.D., an assistant member in Moffitt's Department of Diagnostic Imaging. "There is, however, clear evidence that mammography detects early breast cancers in this population. Data suggest that large-scale screening reduces mortality."
As effective as mammography has been, the authors consider it an imperfect screening tool.
The sensitivity of mammography is highly variable, the authors point out. The effectiveness for women with fatty breast tissue is as high as 98 percent while the effectiveness for women with dense breasts can be as low as 36 percent. Women who undergo annual mammography may still present with cancers found only on physical examination, they said. Additionally, some studies suggest that radiation exposure may contribute to an increase in breast cancer incidence in high-risk populations.
More successful breast cancer screening requires increased sensitivity and specificity while limiting costs and radiation burden, the authors recommended.
They also suggested that optimal patient care will require a new screening paradigm with patient-specific strategies tailored to risk based on family history, age, genetic profiles and breast density.
"The sensitivity of mammography is inversely proportional to breast density," explained Mooney. "Owing to decreased sensitivity in women with dense breast tissue, but with attention to radiation concerns and a high rate of false positives, breast imagers are adapting with new technologies."
According to the authors, those new technologies include low-dose mammography, contrast-enhanced mammography (evaluates blood flow in the breast), automated whole breast ultrasound, molecular imaging, MRI and tomosynthesis (multiple mammographic "slices" through the breast, similar to a CT scan).
"Decreases in mortality have not been proved with any of these emerging technologies," Drukteinis said. "Once more, it is unlikely that any of these new technologies will replace mammography. The role of these new technologies is primarily as an adjunct to screening mammography and can be used in a combination tailored to the individual's risk factors and breast density, with the goal of maximizing sensitivity and specificity."
"Given the heterogeneity of the human population, a perfect imaging technology for breast cancer screening will likely never be found. In fact, because of this heterogeneity, the very concept of one strategy fits all may be outmoded," Drukteinis said.
The authors agree that new technologies will be increasingly personalized, integrating patient-specific and age-dependent factors of cancer risk "with selective application of specific screening technologies best suited to the woman's age, risk and breast density."
###
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.
Media release by Florida Science Communications
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Moffitt Cancer Center researchers discuss new frontiers in breast cancer screeningPublic release date: 5-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Polacek kim.polacek@moffitt.org 813-745-7408 H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Researchers say 'optimal breast cancer screening will ultimately require a personalized approach'
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center predict that advancements in breast cancer screening will need a personalized touch because mammography is not a "one strategy fits all" technology.
Their review "Beyond Mammography: New Frontiers in Breast Cancer Screening" appears in the April 4 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
"Although mammography remains the gold standard for breast cancer screening, there is increasing awareness that there are subpopulations of women for whom mammography is limited because of its reduced sensitivity based on an individual's breast density and other factors," said study lead author Jennifer S. Drukteinis, M.D., assistant member in Moffitt's Department of Diagnostic Imaging.
The writers refer to a controversial disagreement on mammography screening issues. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of health care professionals charged with reviewing published research and making health care policy recommendations, issued guidelines that women should get mammograms every two years starting at age 50. They recommended against screening before 50. Their recommendation generated great controversy, even outrage, because of a well-established convention recommending mammography screening beginning at 40 and, for those with a first-degree relative with breast cancer, screening should start a decade before that relative's age at diagnosis.
"At present, the task force is the only group or consensus panel in the United States recommending breast cancer screenings to begin at age 50," said study co-author Blaise P. Mooney, M.D., an assistant member in Moffitt's Department of Diagnostic Imaging. "There is, however, clear evidence that mammography detects early breast cancers in this population. Data suggest that large-scale screening reduces mortality."
As effective as mammography has been, the authors consider it an imperfect screening tool.
The sensitivity of mammography is highly variable, the authors point out. The effectiveness for women with fatty breast tissue is as high as 98 percent while the effectiveness for women with dense breasts can be as low as 36 percent. Women who undergo annual mammography may still present with cancers found only on physical examination, they said. Additionally, some studies suggest that radiation exposure may contribute to an increase in breast cancer incidence in high-risk populations.
More successful breast cancer screening requires increased sensitivity and specificity while limiting costs and radiation burden, the authors recommended.
They also suggested that optimal patient care will require a new screening paradigm with patient-specific strategies tailored to risk based on family history, age, genetic profiles and breast density.
"The sensitivity of mammography is inversely proportional to breast density," explained Mooney. "Owing to decreased sensitivity in women with dense breast tissue, but with attention to radiation concerns and a high rate of false positives, breast imagers are adapting with new technologies."
According to the authors, those new technologies include low-dose mammography, contrast-enhanced mammography (evaluates blood flow in the breast), automated whole breast ultrasound, molecular imaging, MRI and tomosynthesis (multiple mammographic "slices" through the breast, similar to a CT scan).
"Decreases in mortality have not been proved with any of these emerging technologies," Drukteinis said. "Once more, it is unlikely that any of these new technologies will replace mammography. The role of these new technologies is primarily as an adjunct to screening mammography and can be used in a combination tailored to the individual's risk factors and breast density, with the goal of maximizing sensitivity and specificity."
"Given the heterogeneity of the human population, a perfect imaging technology for breast cancer screening will likely never be found. In fact, because of this heterogeneity, the very concept of one strategy fits all may be outmoded," Drukteinis said.
The authors agree that new technologies will be increasingly personalized, integrating patient-specific and age-dependent factors of cancer risk "with selective application of specific screening technologies best suited to the woman's age, risk and breast density."
###
About Moffitt Cancer Center
Located in Tampa, Moffitt is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, a distinction that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research, its contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Since 1999, Moffitt has been listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. With more than 4,200 employees, Moffitt has an economic impact on the state of nearly $2 billion. For more information, visit MOFFITT.org, and follow the Moffitt momentum on Facebook, twitter and YouTube.
Media release by Florida Science Communications
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
(Reuters) - Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. film critic Roger Ebert says he is battling cancer again and that he will scale back his writing by taking a "leave of presence" from his more than four-decade career.
Ebert, 70, known for his rhetorical power and prolific output, said he will undergo radiation treatment that will force him to take time away from his job.
"I must slow down now, which is why I'm taking what I like to call 'a leave of presence,'" Ebert said in a blog entry posted late on Tuesday, adding that he would scale back his workload.
Ebert, who had lost his ability to speak and eat after surgeries for thyroid and salivary gland cancer in 2002 and 2003, said the cancer was discovered by doctors after he fractured his hip in December.
"The 'painful fracture' that made it difficult for me to walk has recently been revealed to be a cancer," Ebert said, giving no further details about the type of cancer or diagnosis.
"I am not going away," Ebert said. "My intent is to continue to write selected reviews ... What's more, I'll be able at last to do what I've always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review."
The Chicago resident said he also would take time to write about his illness.
Ebert, whose reviews are syndicated to more than 200 newspapers, has been reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1975.
He gained national prominence with the late Gene Siskel on the television show "At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert," coining the phrase "Two Thumbs Up," until Siskel's death in 1999. He later teamed with critic Richard Roeper but quit for health reasons.
Forbes dubbed Ebert the most powerful pundit in America in 2007.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Paul Simao)
ABB has launched its Terra SmartConnect 20kW DC fast charger (pictured) with delivery in North and South America in the second quarter. Initial shipments will support the CHAdeMO fast-charging standard, with SAE / Combined Charging System units available later this year. The charger is designed for commercial and office areas. It?will fully replenish an electric car in 120 minutes, and?take the battery of currently available EVs from 30 percent to 80 percent in less than half an hour, the company said.
Fuji Electric Corp. of America announced the beginning of production of its UL-Certified DC Quick Chargers for Electric Vehicles, with March seeing the first production units shipping out of Milpitas, Calif. The manufacturer?s fourth-generation 25kW DC fast charger is built to the CHAdeMO specification and allows EV owners to charge their vehicles in under an hour.
Nissan North America reported its best-ever sales month for the Nissan LEAF. March sales totaled 2,236 deliveries, a month-over-month increase of 286.2 percent. March was also the first full month of deliveries from the assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn. The Nissan line had its overall best sales month in its history, the manufacturer said. GM reports that Chevy sold 1,478 Volts last month, down 35.4 percent from March 2012 when the manufacturer sold 2,289 of its plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Overall, hybrids now command a 4 percent share of the US auto market after staying relatively stagnant at a less than 3 percent market share. This number could double by 2020. Hybrid sales were up 32 percent in the first two months of 2013 compared with the same period last year. In California, which is the largest US auto market, the Toyota Prius beat the gasoline-powered?Honda Civic as the state?s bestselling vehicle in 2012, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The Energy Department announced winners of its Apps for Vehicles Challenge. The competition asked app developers and entrepreneurs to demonstrate how open vehicles data can be used to improve vehicle safety, fuel efficiency and comfort. The department awarded the diagnostics and analytics app Dash the judges? prize, and MyCarma, a personalized fuel economy app, the popular choice prize. The Green Button Gamer won the safety innovation award, and Fuel Economy Coach received the fuel efficiency innovation award.
Eaton has launched a new family of UltraShift PLUS transmissions designed for Navistar to maximize fuel efficiency in linehaul applications. The two companies will?co-release the products. The new 16-speed direct drive automated mechanical transmissions are designed with a 17 percent step between gears to optimize time in a diesel engine?s most efficient RPM zone and help reduce fuel consumption. The new UltraShift PLUS LSE (Linehaul Small-Step Efficiency) will be released initially with Navistar?s MaxxForce 13L SCR engines on the International branded vehicles and followed shortly thereafter with Cummins ISX15 engines. Fleet testing reported fuel economy improvements from 2 to 4 percent, the companies say.
Scania has new series of trucks featuring refined technology and innovations expected to reduce fuel consumption by up to 8 percent. The Streamline G- and R-series long-haulage trucks are optimized for low fuel consumption. Its new second-generation 13-litre Euro 6 engines are 2-3 percent more economical; Opticruise and Active Prediction technologies each contributing 2-3 percent improvements. The trucks also feature aerodynamics and reduced drag in the gearboxes.
Stay Up-to-Date On Environmental Management, Energy & Sustainability News with EL's Free Daily Newsletter
Most modern gaming consoles are big, heavy and power-thirsty. They dominate the entertainment centers into which they're placed and suck down hundreds of watts of electricity when they're running. They've evolved this way, growing larger and more powerful to deliver better graphics and more comprehensive gameplay experiences. So too have their talents expanded. It's no longer good enough for a gaming console to simply play games: modern systems have to be complete home entertainment devices.
Or do they? When the OUYA was announced in July of 2012, its $99 cost was low and its processing power as simple as its premise: a tiny little box designed to be a haven for those who want to play (or develop) good, original games. Many gamers connected with this idea immediately, helping to drive the system to an $8 million run on Kickstarter. Plenty of others didn't, saying this would be just a cheap distraction on which to play mediocre Android games. The truth, as it turns out, lies somewhere in between.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 5-Apr-2013
Share ] 
