China claims its defense sites face constant US hacking attacks

China is routinely accused of launching concerted hacking campaigns against the US, many of them reportedly tied directly to the army's Unit 61398 in Shanghai. If you believe the Ministry of Defense's spokesman Geng Yansheng, however, just the opposite is true. Along with claiming that China would never hurt (or rather, hack) a fly, he asserts that the Ministry and China Military Online sites faced an average of 144,000 hacking attempts per month from foreign sources in 2012, 62.9 percent of which allegedly came from the US. The Ministry's man stops short of leveling cyberwarfare charges, although he notes the US' recent plans to expand and formally define its cyberwar strategy. There's some 'splainin to do, he argues. While there isn't a formal US response, we suspect that neither side is an innocent dove here -- China is just the most recent to cry foul.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: Reuters

Source: Ministry of National Defense (translated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/28/china-claims-its-defense-sites-face-constant-us-hacking-attacks/

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Hump Day Special

Hump Day Special

Kesha’s Vagina is in Tip Top Shape?[The Frisky] Harry Styles Attacked During London Concert?[HollyWire] JWoww Lends Support to No H8 Campaign?[Right Celebrity] Selena Gomez’s New Album Coming Soon?[The Celebrity Cafe] Justin Bieber Makes a Questionable Fashion Choice?[The Blemish] Beyonce Poses in the Shower Fully Clothed?[The Huffington Post] Bobby Brown Sentenced to Jail?[Anything Hollywood] Meet God’s ...

Hump Day Special Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/hump-day-special-8/

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We're This Much Closer to Replacing Our Wallets With Phones

It sounds boring, but one of the most important frontiers in technology right now is how mobile can make paying for stuff easier. And while this year's Mobile World Congress might have been a little lacking in four-star hardware, there were some serious steps taken towards replacing your wallet with your smartphone. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/vN85T8to2Xk/were-this-much-closer-to-replacing-our-wallets-with-phones

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Fat Head ? Review: Rich Foods Poor Foods

A friend of mine once lectured me on why I shouldn?t buy milk unless I was sure it came from a cow that wasn?t treated with hormones.? The lecture might?ve gone on longer, but she had to step outside to smoke a cigarette.? I kid you not.

When it comes to improving health, I believe in tackling the big issues first and foremost ? like quitting smoking before worrying if your milk came from a hormone-free cow.? If we could just convince people to give up sugar, refined grains and chemically-extracted seed oils (the dietary equivalents of smoking, in my opinion), they?d already be far along the path to improved health, even if they buy their meats and eggs at Wal-Mart.

Moving farther down the path to health requires paying attention to the quality and nutrient density of food, but that?s where some of the food purists scare people off.? As Jonathan Bailor pointed out last week while we were recording a podcast, we want to avoid making perfect the enemy of good.? If we tell people the only way to be healthy is to eat nothing but pasture-fed meats and organic produce from local farmers? markets, we?ll lose them.? (We?d also be lying to them.)

Aside from the purists and the orthorexics, most people simply aren?t going to do all their shopping at farmers? markets.? But many of us who are health-conscious would happily opt for higher-quality foods if we knew how to find them in a grocery store ? which leads to me a new book that teaches exactly how to do that.

Rich Food Poor Food was written by Jayson and Mira Calton, the same couple who wrote Naked Calories.? Their focus is on the importance of micronutrients, vitamins and minerals in food, and after meeting them on last year?s cruise, I?d bet their diet at home is close to perfect.? I?m happy to report, however, that this book isn?t about adopting a perfect diet.? It?s about adopting a better diet, even if you do all your shopping in grocery stores.? Most of the book, in fact, is a shopping guide ? what they call their Ultimate GPS:? grocery purchasing system.

In Part One, the Caltons explain what they mean by rich foods and poor foods.? Rich foods, of course, provide the most micronutrients.? Not surprisingly, rich foods are usually unprocessed or minimally processed.? Poor foods are either devoid of micronutrients or contain additives that can potentially screw up our health ? hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, MSG, chemical preservatives and other frankenfood ingredients.? The goal of Rich Foods Poor Foods is to guide you to the rich foods ? or at least the richer foods, given the choices available.

While explaining the importance of reading labels, the Caltons take a delicious swipe at the Eat This, Not That authors.? If you?ve read any of the many Eat This, Not That articles online, you know the authors promote almost any low-fat garbage over a high-fat version of the same (supposed) food.? The Caltons demonstrate what a lousy idea that is by comparing Lay?s Potato Chips to Lay?s Baked Potato Crisps.
Here are the ingredients for Lay?s Potato Chips:

• Potatoes
• Vegetable oil (sunflower, corn and/or canola oil)
• Salt

A good choice?? Well, I wouldn?t eat them (and neither would the Caltons), but at least we?re talking about a mere three ingredients.? Compare those to the Lay?s Baked Potato Crisps preferred by the Eat This, Not That guys:

• Dried Potatoes
• Cornstarch
• Sugar
• Corn Oil
• Salt
• Soy Lecithin
• Corn Sugar

Yee-uk.? As the Caltons write:

This lower-calorie, low-fat snack is not a healthier, smarter choice.? It is very definitely a Poor Food choice with ingredients that may be linked to cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, infertility, compromised immunity, accelerated aging, and numerous other health conditions and diseases.? Had you purchased this product only after a review of the Nutrition Facts, you would have opened yourself up to unwanted ingredients.

When Eat This, Not That named these potato crisps their go-to choice, they boasted, ?Baked Lay?s represents the classic potato chip at its absolute best.?? What?? Are they serious?? These crisps are not even made with real potato slices.? Far from the absolute best, the Baked Lay?s represents to us just how far we have strayed from natural foods onto a dangerous new path paved with highly processed, manufactured food-like substances.?

Part Two is the shopping guide, which is divided into the same sections you?ll find at a grocery store:? Dairy, Meat, Fish, Produce, Condiments, Grains, Baking Items, Snacks and Beverages.? Each section contains a brief introduction explaining what we should either seek out or avoid within that particular category, then provides two lists named Steer Here (rich foods) and Steer Clear (poor foods).

The lists are colorful, they?re easy to read, and (best of all) they name names.? You can find a perfect choice in a Steer Here list, but if perfect isn?t an option, you can also find some very good choices.? In the milk list, for example, the top choice is farm-fresh raw milk from grass-fed cows.? But if you aren?t willing or able to buy raw milk from a local farm, you can look for Organic Valley Grassmilk.? It?s pasteurized, but not homogenized, and the milk comes from grass-fed cows.? Or you could choose Meyenberg brand goat milk, which is also grass-fed and hormone-free.? You get the idea.

Early in my low-carb days, I bought Hood brand Carb Countdown milk.? (They?ve since changed the name to Calorie Countdown.)? That brand, not surprisingly, is on the Calton?s Steer Clear list:? the ingredients include cellulose gel, cellulose gum, artificial color, sucralose (aka Splenda) and acesulfame potassium.? Hmmm, doesn?t sound much like real milk, does it?

The Caltons recommend quite a few organic foods, but in the section on produce they provide a list of fruits and vegetables for which buying organic is basically a waste of money:? onions, sweet potatoes, avocados, asparagus and several others.? Apparently there?s little chance of those foods containing pesticide residues or being genetically modified.? There?s also a list of fruits and vegetables they recommend you buy only if they?re certified organic:? apples, blueberries, spinach, lettuce and several others.

Rich Food Poor Food isn?t pocket-sized, but I believe it would fit into a purse if you want to take it with you on shopping trips.? I doubt you?ll find every brand name on the Steer Here lists at your local Kroger or Wal-Mart, but I recognize many of them from the days when we lived near a Trade Joe?s and did much of our shopping there.? And of course there?s always Whole Foods ? if you don?t mind paying Whole Foods prices.

Again, the goal isn?t to make your diet perfect.? The goal is to make your diet more nutrient-dense.? Rich Foods Poor Foods can help you attain that goal.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 11:05 pm and is filed under News and Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2013/02/26/review-rich-foods-poor-foods/

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Mars May Be Habitable Today, Scientists Say

LOS ANGELES ? While Mars was likely a more hospitable place in its wetter, warmer past, the Red Planet may still be capable of supporting microbial life today, some scientists say.

Ongoing research in Mars-like places such as Antarctica and Chile's Atacama Desert shows that microbes can eke out a living in extremely cold and dry environments, several researchers stressed at "The Present-Day Habitability of Mars" conference held here at the University of California Los Angeles this month.

And not all parts of the Red Planet's surface may be arid currently ? at least not all the time. Evidence is building that liquid water might flow seasonally at some Martian sites, potentially providing a haven for life as we know it.

"We certainly can't rule out the possibility that it's habitable today," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for the HiRise camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. [The Search for Life on Mars: A Photo Timeline]

Surface water on Mars?

McEwen discussed some intriguing observations by HiRise, which suggest that briny water may flow down steep Martian slopes during the local spring and summer.

Sixteen such sites have been identified to date, mostly on the slopes of the huge Valles Marineris canyon complex, McEwen said. The tracks seem to repeat seasonally as the syrupy fluids descend along weather-worn pathways.

While the brines may originate underground, Caltech's Edwin Kite noted, there is an increasing suspicion that a process known as deliquescence ? in which moisture present in the atmosphere is gathered by compounds on the ground, allowing it to become a liquid ? may be responsible.

Astrobiologists are keen to learn more about these brines, for not much is known about them at the moment.

"Briny water on Mars may or may not be habitable to microbes, either from Earth or from Mars," McEwen said.

Hardy microbes

Martian life may be able to survive even in places where water doesn't seep and flow, some scientists stressed.

For example, microbes here on Earth make a living in the Atacama and the dry valleys of Antarctica, both of which are extremely cold and arid, said Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Antarctic sites also receive seasonally high ultraviolet radiation doses thanks to a hole in the ozone layer that tends to develop every August through November. This provides yet another parallel to Mars, whose thin atmosphere and lack of a protective magnetic field make the planet more radiation-bombarded than Earth.

In the Antarctic dry valleys, McKay said, organisms dwell within rocks, just deep enough to be shielded from the worst of the UV but close enough to the surface to receive the benefits of photosynthesis. Something similar might be happening on Mars today, if life ever evolved there.

McKay also discussed deliquescence, which in the Atacama allows salts to gather enough water to support the existence of life.

McKay offered some advice to NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, which landed in August to determine whether Mars could ever have supported microbial life: "Watch for salt along the road!"

A possible energy source

A number of presenters spent some time talking about perchlorate, a chlorine-containing chemical that NASA's Phoenix lander spotted near the Martian north pole in 2008.

McKay and other researchers think perchlorate may be the reason that NASA's twin Viking landers didn't detect any organic compounds ? the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it ? on the Red Planet back in the 1970s.

The Vikings vaporized Martian soil and looked for any organics boiling off. They found nothing but a few chlorine compounds that were attributed to contamination. But after Phoenix's perchlorate find, McKay and some other researchers performed an experiment.

They added perchlorate to some desert dirt from Chile known to contain organics. They heated the soil up and found the same chlorine compounds the Vikings did, suggesting that organics may have been present in the Vikings' samples but were broken down by the combination of heat and perchlorate.

While this backstory is interesting in its own right, perchlorate is also relevant to the possible habitability of present-day Mars.

"Perchlorate, it turns out, is a potent chemoautotrophic energy source," said Carol Stoker, also of NASA Ames, noting that the chemical could potentially sustain microbes in the dark Martian subsurface, where photosynthesis is not an option.

And some Earth microbes use perchlorate for food, so that could be happening on Mars as well, scientists have pointed out.

"The Present-Day Habitability of Mars" took place Feb. 4-5 and was co-hosted by the NASA Astrobiology institute and the UK Centre for Astrobiology. Archived videos of conference presentations are available here.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mars-may-habitable-today-scientists-212454782.html

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Cablevision files antitrust suit against Viacom over programming bundling

Fan of channels such as CMT, VH1 Classic and Teen Nick? Cablevision is assuming that's a negatory. Today, the cable provider filed a federal antitrust suit against Viacom over the content distributor's programming bundling practices, which are alleged as anti-competitive. The lawsuit revolves around Viacom's insistence that ancillary networks be included in programming agreements in order to gain distribution rights to more popular networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. While the complaint itself remains under seal, Cablevision is arguing abuse of power in the lawsuit, which if successful, could have rippling effects throughout the pay-TV industry.

Cablevision is seeking declaratory relief that would void the two companies' programming contract (inked just this past December), along with a permanent injunction against Viacom's practice and the ability to carry Viacom programming until a new contract can be negotiated. Meanwhile, Viacom has asserted that it'll vigorously defend the lawsuit, and maintains that its practice is "win-win and pro-consumer" in the sense that its niche networks are offered at discounts. It seems that we can look forward to both companies butting heads for a while to come.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Cablevision (PDF), Viacom

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/80jAY9nwHiI/

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BPA may affect the developing brain by disrupting gene regulation

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Environmental exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a widespread chemical found in plastics and resins, may suppress a gene vital to nerve cell function and to the development of the central nervous system, according to a study led by researchers at Duke Medicine.

The researchers published their findings -- which were observed in cortical neurons of mice, rats and humans -- in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Feb. 25, 2013.

"Our study found that BPA may impair the development of the central nervous system, and raises the question as to whether exposure could predispose animals and humans to neurodevelopmental disorders," said lead author Wolfgang Liedtke, M.D., PhD, associate professor of medicine/neurology and neurobiology at Duke.

BPA, a molecule that mimics estrogen and interferes with the body's endocrine system, can be found in a wide variety of manufactured products, including thermal printer paper, some plastic water bottles and the lining of metal cans. The chemical can be ingested if it seeps into the contents of food and beverage containers.

Research in animals has raised concerns that exposure to BPA may cause health problems such as behavioral issues, endocrine and reproductive disorders, obesity, cancer and immune system disorders. Some studies suggest that infants and young children may be the most vulnerable to the effects of BPA, which led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of the chemical in baby bottles and cups in July 2012.

While BPA has been shown to affect the developing nervous system, little is understood as to how this occurs. The research team developed a series of experiments in rodent and human nerve cells to learn how BPA induces changes that disrupt gene regulation.

During early development of neurons, high levels of chloride are present in the cells. These levels drop as neurons mature, thanks to a chloride transporter protein called KCC2, which churns chloride ions out of the cells. If the level of chloride within neurons remains elevated, it can damage neural circuits and compromise a developing nerve cell's ability to migrate to its proper position in the brain.

Exposing neurons to minute amounts of BPA alters the chloride levels inside the cells by somehow shutting down the Kcc2 gene, which makes the KCC2 protein, thereby delaying the removal of chloride from neurons.

MECP2, another protein important for normal brain function, was found to be a possible culprit behind this change. When exposed to BPA, MECP2 is more abundant and binds to the Kcc2 gene at a higher rate, which might help to shut it down. This could contribute to problems in the developing brain due to a delay in chloride being removed.

These findings raise the question of whether BPA could contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett syndrome, a severe autism spectrum disorder that is only found in girls and is characterized by mutations in the gene that produces MECP2.

While both male and female neurons were affected by BPA in the studies, female neurons were more susceptible to the chemical's toxicity. Further research will dig deeper into the sex-specific effects of BPA exposure and whether certain sex hormone receptors are involved in BPA's effect on KCC2.

"Our findings improve our understanding of how environmental exposure to BPA can affect the regulation of the Kcc2 gene. However, we expect future studies to focus on what targets aside from Kcc2 are affected by BPA," Liedtke said. "This is a chapter in an ongoing story."

In addition to Liedtke, study authors include Michele Yeo and Ken Berglund of the Liedtke Lab in the Division of Neurology at Duke Medicine; Michael Hanna, Maria D. Torres and Jorge Busciglio of the University of California, Irvine; Junjie U. Guo and Yuan Gao of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.; and Jaya Kittur, Joel Abramowitz and Lutz Birnbaumer of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The research received funding from Duke University, the Klingenstein Fund, the National Institutes of Health (R21NS066307, HD38466 and AG16573), and intramural funds from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University Medical Center.

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Journal Reference:

1. Michele Yeo, Ken Berglund, Michael Hanna, Junjie U. Guo, Jaya Kittur, Maria D. Torres, Joel Abramowitz, Jorge Busciglio, Yuan Gao, Lutz Birnbaumer, and Wolfgang B. Liedtke. Bisphenol A delays the perinatal chloride shift in cortical neurons by epigenetic effects on the Kcc2 promoter. PNAS, February 25, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1300959110

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/NaeyTOnLcT0/130225153122.htm

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How dinosaurs grew the world's longest necks

rancisco Gasc? under the direction of Mike Taylor and Matt Wedel

Plant-eating dinosaurs called sauropods had the longest necks in the animal kingdom. Here an adult Brontomerus mother.

By Charles Choi, LiveScience

How did the largest of all dinosaurs evolve necks longer than any other creature that has ever lived? One secret: mostly hollow neck bones, researchers say.

The largest creatures to ever walk the Earth were the long-necked, long-tailed dinosaurs known as the sauropods. These vegetarians had by far the longest necks of any known animal. The dinosaurs' necks reached up to 50 feet (15 meters) in length, six times longer than that of the current world-record holder, the giraffe, and at least five times longer than those of any other animal that has lived on land.

"They were really stupidly, absurdly oversized," said researcher Michael Taylor, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol in England. "In our feeble, modern world, we're used to thinking of elephants as big, but sauropods reached 10 times the size elephants do. They were the size of walking whales."

Amazing necks

To find out how sauropod necks could get so long, scientists analyzed other long-necked creatures and compared sauropod anatomy with that of the dinosaurs' nearest living relatives, the birds and crocodilians.

"Extinct animals ? and living animals, too, for that matter ? are much more amazing than we realize," Taylor told LiveScience. "Time and again, people have proposed limits to possible animal sizes, like the five-meter (16-foot) wingspan that was supposed to be the limit for flying animals. And time and again, they've been blown away. We now know of flying pterosaurs with 10-meter (33-foot) wingspans. And these extremes are achieved by a startling array of anatomical innovations." [ Image Gallery: 25 Amazing Ancient Beasts ]

Among living animals, adult bull giraffes have the longest necks, capable of reaching about 8 feet (2.4 m) long. No other living creature exceeds half this length. For instance, ostriches typically have necks only about 3 feet (1 m) long.

When it comes to extinct animals, the largest land-living mammal of all time was the rhino-like creature Paraceratherium, which had a neck maybe 8.2 feet (2.5 m) long. The flying reptiles known as pterosaurs could also have surprisingly long necks, such as Arambourgiania, whose neck may have exceeded 10 feet (3 m).

The necks of the Loch Ness Monster-like marine reptiles known as plesiosaurs could reach an impressive 23 feet (7 m), probably because the water they lived in could support their weight. But these necks were still less than half the lengths of the longest-necked sauropods.

Sauropod secrets

In their study, Taylor and his colleagues found that the neck bones of sauropods possessed a number of traits that supported such long necks. For instance, air often made up 60 percent of these animals' necks, with some as light as birds' bones, making it easier to support long chains of the bones. The muscles, tendons and ligaments were also positioned around these vertebrae in a way that helped maximize leverage, making neck movements more efficient.

In addition, the dinosaurs' giant torsos and four-legged stances helped provide a stable platform for their necks. In contrast, giraffes have relatively small torsos, while ostriches have two-legged stances. [ Image Gallery: Animals' Amazing Headgear ]

Sauropods also had plenty of neck vertebrae, up to 19. In contrast, nearly all mammals have no more than seven, from mice to whales to giraffes, limiting how long their necks can get. (The only exceptions among mammals are sloths and aquatic mammals known as sirenians, such as manatees.)

Moreover, while pterosaur Arambourgiania had a relatively giant head with long, spear-like jaws that it likely used to help capture prey, sauropods had small, light heads that were easy to support. These dinosaurs did not chew their meals, lacking even cheeks to store food in their mouths; they merely swallowed it, letting their guts break it down.

"Sauropod heads are essentially all mouth. The jaw joint is at the very back of the skull, and they didn't have cheeks, so they came pretty close to having Pac Man-Cookie Monster flip-top heads," researcher Mathew Wedel at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., told LiveScience.

"It's natural to wonder if the lack of chewing didn't, well, come back to bite them, in terms of digestive efficiency. But some recent work on digestion in large animals has shown that after about 3 days, animals have gotten all the nutrition they can from their food, regardless of particle size.

"And sauropods were so big that the food would have spent that long going through them anyway," Wedel said. "They could stop chewing entirely, with no loss of digestive efficiency."

What's a long neck good for?

Furthermore, sauropods and other dinosaurs probably could breathe like birds, drawing fresh air through their lungs continuously, instead of having to breathe out before breathing in to fill their lungs with fresh air like mammals do. This may have helped sauropods get vital oxygen down their long necks to their lungs.

"The problem of breathing through a long tube is something that's very hard for mammals to do. Just try it with a length of garden hose," Taylor said.

As to why sauropods evolved such long necks, there are currently three theories. Some of the dinosaurs may have used their long necks to feed on high leaves, like giraffes do. Others may have used their necks to graze on large swaths of vegetation by sweeping the ground side to side like geese do. This helped them make the most out of every step, which would be a big deal for such heavy creatures.

Scientists have also suggested that long necks may have been sexually attractive, therefore driving the evolution of ever-longer necks; however, Taylor and his colleagues have found no evidence this was the case.

In the future, the researchers plan to delve even deeper into the mysteries of sauropod necks. For instance, Apatosaurus , formerly known as Brontosaurus, had "really sensationally strange neck vertebrae," Taylor said. The scientists suspect the necks of Apatosaurus were used for "combat between males ? fighting over women, of course."

Taylor and Wedel detailed their findings online Feb. 12 in the journal PeerJ.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook ?& Google+.?

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/24/17076293-how-dinosaurs-grew-the-worlds-longest-necks?lite

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Hubble sees a glowing jet from a young star

Feb. 24, 2013 ? The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image showing an object known as HH 151, a bright jet of glowing material trailed by an intricate, orange-hued plume of gas and dust.

It is located some 460 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus (The Bull), near to the young, tumultuous star HL Tau.

In the first few hundred thousand years of life, new stars like HL Tau pull in material that falls towards them from the surrounding space. This material forms a hot disc that swirls around the coalescing body, launching narrow streams of material from its poles. These jets are shot out at speeds of several hundred kilometers (or miles) per second and collide violently with nearby clumps of dust and gas, creating wispy, billowing structures known as Herbig-Haro objects -- like HH 151 seen in the image.

Such objects are very common in star-forming regions. They are short-lived, and their motion and evolution can actually be seen over very short timescales, on the order of years. They quickly race away from the newly-forming star that emitted them, colliding with new clumps of material and glowing brightly before fading away.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130224082136.htm

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Ikea withdraws meatballs in more than 20 countries

STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Swedish furniture giant Ikea became entangled in Europe's widening meat scandal Monday, forced to withdraw meatballs from stores across Europe amid suspicions that they contained horse meat.

Stores in the U.S. and Canada were not affected, Ikea said.

The company reacted after authorities in the Czech Republic said they had detected horse DNA in tests of 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) packs of frozen meatballs that were labeled as beef and pork. The Czech State Veterinary Administration said it tested two batches of Ikea meatballs and only one of them contained horse meat. It did not say how much.

Meatballs from the same batch had been sent from a Swedish supplier to 12 other European countries ? Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland ? and would be pulled off the shelves in all of them, Ikea said.

Later Monday, the company expanded the withdrawals to stores in 21 European countries and in Hong Kong, Thailand and the Dominican Republic, all of which were getting meatballs from the same Swedish supplier.

Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said that included most European countries, but not Russia and Norway, which use local suppliers. Stores in Poland and Switzerland use both local suppliers and the Swedish one, but would now only use locally produced meatballs, she said.

"This is an extraordinary effort to ensure that no one is worried," Magnusson told The Associated Press.

She added that two weeks ago Ikea tested a range of frozen food products, including meatballs, and found no traces of horse meat. The company plans to conduct its own tests to "validate" the Czech results, she said.

Ikea's North America branch said the U.S. stores get their meatballs from a U.S. supplier.

"Based on the results of our mapping, we can confirm that the contents of the meatballs follow the Ikea recipe and contain only beef and pork from animals raised in the U.S. and Canada," Ikea North America spokeswoman Mona Astra Liss said in a statement.

Ikea is known for its assemble-it-yourself furniture but its trademark blue-and-yellow megastores also have cafeteria-style restaurants offering Swedish dishes such as meatballs served with boiled or mashed potatoes, gravy and lingonberry jam.

European Union officials met Monday to discuss tougher food labeling rules after the discovery of horse meat in a wide range of frozen supermarket meals that were supposed to contain beef or pork. So far those foods include meatballs, burgers, kebabs, lasagna, pizza, tortelloni, ravioli, empanadas and meat pies, among other items.

Authorities say the scandal is a case of fraudulent labeling but does not pose a health risk.

Gunnar Dafgard AB, a family-owned frozen foods company in southwestern Sweden that supplies Ikea's meatballs in Europe, posted a brief statement on its website saying "the batch in question has been blocked and we are investigating the situation."

Spokesman Ola Larsson said the company was conducting its own DNA tests and wouldn't comment further until it has those results.

Sweden's food safety authority said it wasn't taking any action but was waiting for Czech authorities to specify the quantity of horsemeat detected.

"If it's less than 1 percent it could mean that they handled horsemeat at the same facility. If it's more, we assess that it's been mixed into the product," said Karin Cerenius of Sweden's National Food Agency.

The Czech authority said a total of 760 kilograms (1,675 pounds) of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves. It also said it found horse meat in beef burgers imported from Poland during random tests of food products.

"Unfortunately, the testing method we use detects just the quality ... the presence or non-presence of horse DNA," said Jan Vana, a senior official at the State Veterinary Administration. "At the moment, we can't say the quantity of it."

Spanish authorities, meanwhile, announced that traces of horse meat were found in a beef cannelloni product by one of the brands of Nestle, a Switzerland-based food giant.

In a statement on its website, Nestle Spain said it was withdrawing six "La Cocinera" products and one "Buitoni" product from store shelves. It said it was taking the action after traces of horse meat were found in beef bought from a supplier in Spain and that it was taking legal action against the company.

Processed food products ? a business segment with traditionally low margins that often leads producers to hunt for the cheapest suppliers ? often contain ingredients from multiple suppliers in different countries, who themselves at times subcontract production to others, making it hard to monitor every link in the production chain.

Standardized DNA checks with meat suppliers or more stringent labeling rules on disclosing the origin of processed food's ingredients will add costs that producers will most likely hand over to consumers, making food more expensive.

The scandal has created a split in the European Union between nations like Britain, which see further rules as a protectionist hindrance of free trade under the 27-nation bloc's single market, and those calling for tougher regulation, including Austria and Germany.

"Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said.

At the meeting in Brussels, several EU agriculture ministers called upon the Commission, the bloc's executive arm, to speed up presenting a proposal on tougher regulation by this summer.

The scandal began in Ireland in mid-January when the country announced the results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. It tested frozen beef burgers taken from store shelves and found that more than a third of brands at five supermarkets contained at least a trace of horse. The sample of one brand sold by the British supermarket kingpin Tesco had more than 25 percent horse meat.

___

Associated Press writers Juergen Baetz in Brussels, Karel Janicek in Prague and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ikea-withdraws-meatballs-more-20-countries-211231901--finance.html

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Google planning Spotify-style subscription music service - report

AppleInsider writes, As rumors swirl of a Pandora-style Internet radio service from Apple, Google is said to be working on a paid subscription music service akin to Spotify.

Continue reading Google planning Spotify-style subscription music service - report at AppleInsider

Source: http://machash.com/appleinsider/55656/google-planning-spotify-style-subscription-music-service-report/

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Firefox phones coming this summer

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Mozilla, the non-profit foundation behind the popular Firefox Web browser, is getting into phones. But it's not stopping at Web browsers ? it's launching an entire phone operating system.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based foundation said Sunday that phones running Firefox OS will appear this summer, starting in Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Mexico, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Venezuela.

The Firefox OS will land in a crowded environment, where many small operating systems are trying to become the "third eco-system," alongside Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Together, those two account for 91 percent of smartphone sales, according to research firm IDC.

Mozilla Foundation has an ally in phone companies, who are interested in seeing an alternative to Apple and Google, particularly one coming from a non-profit foundation. Thirteen phone companies around the world have committed to supporting Firefox phones, Mozilla said, including Sprint Nextel in the U.S., though it gave no time frame for a release. Other supporters include Telecom Italia, America Movil of Mexico and Deutsche Telekom of Germany. DT is the parent of T-Mobile USA, but plans to sell Firefox phones first in Poland.

Phone makers that plan to make Firefox phones include Huawei and ZTE of China and LG of Korea. The first devices will be inexpensive touchscreen smartphones.

All the phones will run on chips supplied by San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc., whose CEO Paul Jacobs appeared at Mozilla's press event Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, on the eve of the world's largest cellphone trade show.

The industry has seen various attempts to launch "open" smartphone operating systems, with little success. Jay Sullivan, vice president of products at Mozilla, said these failed because they were designed "by committee," with too many constituents to please. While developing and supporting the Firefox browser, Mozilla has learned to develop large-scale "open" projects effectively, he said.

He also said that putting quality third-party applications on Firefox phones will be easy, because they're based on HTML 5, an emerging standard for Web applications.

"Firefox OS has achieved something that no device software platform has previously managed - translating an industry talking shop into a huge commitment from both carriers and hardware vendors at its commercial launch," said Tony Cripps an analyst at research firm Ovum. "Neither Android nor Symbian ? the closest benchmarks in terms of broad industry sponsorship that we've previously seen ? have rallied the level of support that Firefox OS has achieved so early in its development."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/firefox-phones-coming-summer-172308147--finance.html

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Samsung cuts down Galaxy camera prices

Samsung cuts down Galaxy camera prices

New Delhi: Samsung India has slashed the price of its Galaxy Camera which is an Android-powered camera , making? it more affordable to the people.

Within less than two months of its launch in India the company has slashed the price of the camera. The camera now costs Rs 26,520, down Rs 3,880 from its launch price. The manufacturer is also offering a free battery charging kit with the device in the country.

Galaxy Camera has a 4.8-inch touchscreen and is compatible with all the apps available on Google Play marketplace. It is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB RAMS and boasts of a 1,650mAh battery. The gadget supports sim-card for 3G connectivity and can also access the internet over Wi-Fi.

This Wi-Fi+3G capable device was made available to the Indian consumers in November 2012 at Rs 29,900. The Samsung Galaxy camera's Wi-Fi-only rival Nikon S800c is priced at Rs 20,950.

Further the new version of the camera has done away with the cellular signal. The new cam, Samsung said, is basically the same as seen before, this time minus the 3G and 4G connectivity options.

Source: http://www.mynews.in/News/samsung_cuts_down_galaxy_camera_prices_N542923.html

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U.S. Justice, Gulf states crafting BP spill settlement

(Reuters) - The U.S. government and Gulf Coast states are considering offering BP Plc a deal under which it pays $16 billion to settle civil suits stemming from the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The deal would cover the company's potential penalties under the Clean Water Act and payments under the Natural Resources Damage Assessment, the newspaper said, citing sources familiar with the discussions.

It was unclear if the deal has been formally offered to BP. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment.

A settlement could avert a bruising courtroom battle over the worst ever U.S. offshore oil spill slated to start on Monday in New Orleans, although the trial may begin as the terms of the deal are hammered out.

A settlement would also put a solid number on BP's costs under the Clean Water Act, which range from $4.5 billion to $17.5 billion, as well as potential natural resources damage assessments to the states under the Oil Pollution Act.

"BP doesn't talk about possible offers or negotiations, but I can tell you we are ready for trial and looking forward to the opportunity to present our case starting Monday," BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said when contacted by Reuters.

BP has spent or committed $37 billion on cleanup, restoration, payouts, settlements and fines. That includes an estimated $8.5 billion deal with most plaintiffs and a record $4.5 billion in penalties, and a guilty plea to 14 criminal counts to resolve criminal charges from the Justice Department and civil claims from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

BP has said it would settle on "reasonable terms," but was prepared to go to trial if the demands were "excessive and not based on reality."

(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; Editing by Vicki Allen and Gunna Dickson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-justice-gulf-states-crafting-bp-oil-spill-164741968--finance.html

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The PFA profile for Raheem Sterling has been updated say Digital Sports Group

(PRWEB UK) 23 February 2013

Digital Sports Group today announced that The PFA profile for the professional footballer has been been updated. The PFA player profiles provide a unique and unrivaled insight into a professional footballers career with full career stats, news biographies and features.

Raheem signed for from Queen?s Park Rangers as a 15 year old and in his first full season appeared for both the U18s and reserves.

In 2011-12, he made occasional appearances for the Academy team but was a regular in the reserves scoring seven goals. In March, he was promoted to the first team squad making his Barclays Premier League debut when he came off the bench against Wigan Athletic at Anfield. That appearance as a 17 year old made him the third youngest ever Liverpool first team player.

Head of Operations at DSG, Matthew Tait had this to say ?Raheem Sterling is a fantastic player and we have been working hard to provide the most fantastic resource that is both enjoyable to use and useful. Working with the PFA provides unique biographical information and insights that can be found nowhere else online. We are proud of our partnership with the Professional Footballers Association and the unrivalled access this provides us to the players.?

DSG became the official digital partner of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) earlier this year and have since launched a number of Player profile fan pages on social media site Facebook as well as providing official player pages on their football news site football.co.uk

Source: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10454516.htm

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Bandit Whips Up Tornado Tour with Little Big Town

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Grammy award winning vocal group Little Big Town is on the road with Bandit Lites for The Tornado Tour. Comprised of Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet, the country music group has been unstoppable, with their first platinum single Pontoon racking up accolades, including the CMA Award for Single of the Year and the Grammy award for Best Country Duo/Group performance.

The very word ?tornado? is very visually stimulating, and Raj Kapoor worked closely with Little Big Town to design a stunning set that did the word justice. The design features the remains of a theatre, with tattered legs and borders hanging across the mid stage.

While the name of the tour and album inspired the set design, lighting designer Chris Shrom worked with production manager Chris Diener on the production details during Rascal Flatts? Changed tour that they wanted to bring to Little Big Town?s show.

?Being employed by Little Big Town since 2011, I?ve come to know their music and my design has grown with them,? said Shrom. ?Ultimately, the music inspires the lighting. Tone dictates color, and visually draws out various feelings and emotions. When the music hits real hard, the lights should hit real hard. If there's a good beat, the lights need to reflect that. Lighting is very musical.??

Shrom looked to balance fashion, like writing out lyrics to songs, and function in his design, meaning many of the fixtures in the show have dual purposes, such as the four fixtures that light the backdrop, set, and also provide a cool effect at the top of the show.

?We also have a lot of set pieces in this show,? added Shrom, ?and I learned an important lesson years ago in college: an unlit set is an invisible set.?

Shrom spent a little over a week in the Martin Show Designer suite at Bandit with his Jands Vista T2, followed by another four days with the floor package and then another four days of rehearsal. The equipment list includes Bandit 5x5 Blinders, Elation Impressions, Clay Paky Sharpys, Color Blaze 72s, GRN LED pars, Atomic 3000 with color scrollers, Coemar Mini-Cycs, a Le Maitre Mark 2 LSG, 10-cell ministrips, Chandeliers, and CO2 Jets.

Shrom prides himself on his attention to detail, a trait that was put to the test since the lights in the air are locally provided by the venue. With so many of the specials coming from the air, it meant he had to be ready for almost everything.

?I hold myself to a very high standard,? explained Shrom, ?and every day, every palette is updated; position, color, strobe, gobo and beams are all tweaked, rehearsed and re-tweaked to give the audience the best possible show that I can create.?

It?s a standard that Shrom believes is due because of a team effort.

?When you see a light come up on someone, on a solo, or a special, it?s not by chance: it is carefully coordinated, talked about, rehearsed, re-rehearsed, and practiced. We'll often have brief meetings right before they go on where we talk about a hit in a song, or a new way to start or end a song. The attention to detail that Little Big Town takes in their show comes out during their performances and inspires me to be on the top of my game, every day.?

?I have had the opportunity to work with Chris Shrom starting with his days as a showcase lighting designer for the Belmont Showcase Series,? said Bandits? business development officer Brent Barrett. ?He is a creative lighting designer as well as a skillful programmer and board operator.? Working with him and Chris Diener (Little Big Town?s production manager) is a true privilege.????????

About Bandit Lites, Inc.

Bandit Lites is a global leader in the entertainment lighting marketplace.? From touring productions to fixed installations, Bandit Lites has a full staff of highly trained professionals to deal with all types of lighting needs. Bandit?s global presence will insure seamless transitions no matter where your next show takes you.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LDOMostRecent/~3/6lDNiR84X2w/bandit-whips-tornado-tour-little-big-town

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Winter storm rakes Midwest with snow, freezing rain

Record snowfall in Wichita, Kansas, creates havoc at the airport where crews had to dig out a plane stuck on the tarmac. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

A winter storm moved Friday into the Midwest, where it dumped a band of snow over the Great Lakes states and made for an icy morning commute after sweeping through the Great Plains.

The Weather Channel said Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Detroit could all expect up to 6 inches of snow on Friday. Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Charleston, W.Va., were expecting up to a quarter-inch of ice, enough to make roads dangerous.

The storm is expected to move into the Northeast and deliver a third straight weekend of significant snow. Interior sections of New England could get as much as a foot.

Full coverage from weather.com

In Cleveland, a United Airlines 737 jet skidded off the runway into the grass and snow after landing from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airport officials said. There were no reported injuries, and the passengers were taken by bus to the terminal.

The runway was in good condition at the time of the landing, said Jacqueline Mayo, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland airport. Freezing rain had just moved out of the area.

On Thursday, as the storm hammered the Plains, a United regional jet from Denver got stuck in the snow after landing at the airport in Wichita, Kan. Workers tried to clear a path so that buses could collect the passengers, but the tarmac was too slick, and the plane was stuck for about two hours.

Passengers said that flight attendants passed out cookies and that passengers and crew stayed upbeat.

?By far the most entertaining delay I?ve ever had in my life,? passenger Joshua Locke said. ?This has just been laughable to me.?

Wichita reported 14.2 inches of snow, the second-largest total on record there. More remote parts of Kansas got 18 inches. Omaha, Neb., reported 8 inches and Sioux City, Iowa, 10 inches.

On Friday, O?Hare airport in Chicago reported delays of an hour and a half, and Cincinnati reported more than 45 minutes. The airport in Kansas City, shut down earlier this week in heavy snow, reopened, but most morning flights were delayed.

In Cincinnati, a semi lost control on an icy overpass, leaving one wheel dangling over the edge. No one was hurt, but part of Interstate 71 was closed for a time, and the truck was leaking fuel, NBC affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati reported.

A medical helicopter crashed in Oklahoma City, killing two people and injuring a third, but it was not immediately clear whether the storm played a role, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier this week, the storm forced road closures in California and delays in a pro golf tournament in Arizona, where it dusted cactus-tops with snow.

PhotoBlog: Winter whiteout slams central US

The storm was blamed for two deaths on Wednesday. A 19-year-old Nebraska woman was killed in a two-car collision, and an 18-year-old man in Oklahoma died when his truck slid into a tractor-trailer on a slushy highway.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.

This story was originally published on Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:32 AM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17056288-winter-storm-rakes-the-midwest-new-england-headed-for-3rd-straight-weekend-of-snow?lite

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ASUS Transformer Book Windows 8 hybrid goes up for pre-order

Despite being announced long before the budget-minded VivoTab Smart, ASUS' higher-end Windows 8 laptop / tablet hybrid known as the Transformer Book has yet to make its way to store shelves -- or receive official pricing, for that matter. Nonetheless, those intent on throwing one of the machines into their satchel can snag the Transformer Book on pre-order, which is available through MacMall for $1,479.99. The 13.3-inch system sports a 1,920 x 1,080 display, and in this particular configuration, you'll fetch a dual-core 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U CPU with Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive that's augmented by a 128GB SSD. This price includes the keyboard dock, but it's worth reiterating that you might pay more than necessary to snag the system on pre-order. If you're on the fence, be sure to revisit our hands-on from last summer's Computex.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS

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Smartphone petition breaks 100,000 signatures, forces White House response

The petition to reinstate the DMCA protection of smartphone unlockers has reached 100,000 signatories on We The People. As it's now hit the golden limit, the White House will have to issue an official response explaining its stance on the matter. The petition also asked that if the Librarian of Congress wouldn't bring back the exemption, that a bill should be passed that enshrines the right into law. As soon we see the message from the West Wing, we'll let you know what they say.

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Dogs find newborn girl abandoned in plastic bag in Texas

The baby girl was discovered by pets that had picked up on her scent coming from the bag. Keith Garvin of NBC station KPRC reports.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

Child welfare officials have taken custody of a newborn girl who was found abandoned in a plastic grocery bag by passing dogs in Cypress, Texas.

The infant was in good condition at Texas Children's Hospital but was lucky to be alive, doctors and law enforcement officials said.

---

"If it had not have been for the resident that came out to walk her dogs, that child may have laid there all night (and) possibly would have died," said Harris County sheriff's Sgt. Gordon Trott told NBC station KPRC of Houston.

The girl was found by a fence about 7 p.m. (8 p.m. ET) Tuesday near an apartment complex in Cypress, a city of 57,000 about 25 miles northwest of Houston. Overnight low temperatures there have dropped into the low 40s in recent days.

About 3 inches of her umbilical cord was still attached, and while it had been cut, it hadn't been clamped, Trott said. That made her situation especially perilous.

"If the cord is not clamped before it's cut, there is a risk of the baby bleeding out through the unclamped cord, which could of led to a baby's death," Tiffany McKee-Garrett, a pediatrician at Texas Children's Hospital, told KPRC.

Sheriff's deputies were still searching Thursday for the baby's mother, who they said could face a felony child endangerment charge.

Child welfare officials said they were perplexed by the case, because Texas law allows anyone to drop off a newborn at a hospital or a fire station ? no questions asked.

"All you have to do is hand the baby over," said Gwen Carter, a spokeswoman for Harris County Child Protective Services.

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17046293-dogs-find-newborn-girl-abandoned-in-plastic-bag-in-texas?lite

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NYPD, Microsoft create crime-fighting tech system

This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo shows a detail of a video wall that shows New York city police officers an interactive map of the area, security footage from nearby cameras, locations where high radiation levels are detected and whether any other threats have been made in New York. The Domain Awareness System, known as ?the dashboard,? instantaneously mines data from the NYPD?s vast collection of arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras city-wide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors and aggregates it into a user-friendly, readable form. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo shows a detail of a video wall that shows New York city police officers an interactive map of the area, security footage from nearby cameras, locations where high radiation levels are detected and whether any other threats have been made in New York. The Domain Awareness System, known as ?the dashboard,? instantaneously mines data from the NYPD?s vast collection of arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras city-wide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors and aggregates it into a user-friendly, readable form. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo, police officers monitor computer screens showing an interactive map of an area of the city, security footage from nearby cameras, if there are high radiation levels and whether any other threats have been made in New York city. The Domain Awareness System, known as ?the dashboard,? instantaneously mines data from the NYPD?s vast collection of arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras city-wide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors and aggregates it into a user-friendly, readable form. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo shows a detail of a video wall showing New York city police officers an interactive map of an area in the city, security footage from nearby cameras, if there are high radiation levels and whether any other threats have been made in New York. The Domain Awareness System, known as ?the dashboard,? instantaneously mines data from the NYPD?s vast collection of arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras city-wide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors and aggregates it into a user-friendly, readable form. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

This Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo shows a detail of a video wall showing New York city police officers an interactive map of the area, security footage from nearby cameras, if there are high radiation levels and whether any other threats have been made in New York. The Domain Awareness System, known as ?the dashboard,? instantaneously mines data from the NYPD?s vast collection of arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras city-wide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors and aggregates it into a user-friendly, readable form. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A 911 call comes in about a possible bomb in lower Manhattan and an alert pops up on computer screens at the New York Police Department, instantly showing officers an interactive map of the neighborhood, footage from nearby security cameras, whether there are high radiation levels and whether any other threats have been made against the city.

In a click, police know exactly what they're getting into.

Such a hypothetical scenario may seem like something out of a futuristic crime drama, but the technology is real, developed in a partnership between the nation's largest police department and Microsoft Corp., and the latest version has been quietly in use for about a year.

The project could pay off in more ways than one: The NYPD could make tens of millions of dollars under an unprecedented marketing deal that allows Microsoft to sell the system to other law enforcement agencies and civilian companies around the world. The city will get a 30 percent cut.

The Domain Awareness System, known as the dashboard, gives easy access to the police department's voluminous arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras citywide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors ? data that raises privacy concerns for some civil liberties groups. But the dashboard system mines existing tools and doesn't create any new surveillance.

Right now, it is used only in NYPD offices, mostly in the counterterrorism unit. Eventually, the system could supply crime-fighting information in real time to officers on laptops in their squad cars and on mobile devices while they walk the beat.

"It works incredibly well," said Jessica Tisch, director of planning and policy for the counterterrorism unit.

For example, officers used the system during a deadly shooting outside the Empire State Building in August. Dozens of 911 calls were coming in, and it initially looked like an attack staged by several gunmen. But officers mapped the information and pulled up cameras within 500 feet of the reported shots to determine there was only one shooter.

Analysts are cautious about the potential profits, saying that largely depends on Microsoft's sales efforts and whether any major competition arises. While there other data-drilling products made by other companies, they say the NYPD's involvement could set the dashboard apart.

"This is the kind of stuff you used to only see in movies," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group, a technology analysis firm. "Getting it to work in a way that police departments can use in real time is huge."

The venture began in 2009 when the NYPD approached Microsoft about building software to help mine data for the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, a network of private and public cameras and other tools monitored by the department's counterterrorism bureau. Development cost the department between $30 million and $40 million, officials said.

"Usually, you purchase software that you try to work with, but we wanted this to be something that really worked well for us, so we set about creating it with them," said Richard Daddario, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism.

Officers were involved throughout the process with the programmers, offering advice on what they need during an emergency.

"It was created by cops for cops," Tisch said. "We thought a lot about what information we want up close and personal, and what needs to be a click away. It's all baked in there."

The system uses hundreds of thousands of pieces of information. Security camera footage can be rewound five minutes so that officers can see suspects who may have fled. Sensors pick up whether a bag has been left sitting for a while. When an emergency call comes in, officers can check prior 911 calls from that address to see what they might be up against.

Prospective clients can customize it to fit their organization.

Dave Mosher, a Microsoft vice president in charge of program management, said the company started to market the system in August and is looking at smaller municipalities, law enforcement agencies and companies that handle major sporting events.

He would not say whether any clients have been lined up and would not give details on the price except to say that it would depend on how much customization must be done.

Shawn McCarthy, an analyst with the research firm IDC, described the partnership ? and outcome ? as unusual in the tech world. "I see huge potential, but so much depends on the price and competition," he said.

No firm timetable has been set on when the dashboard will be rolled out to the entire 34,000-offficer department.

___

Associated Press video journalist Bonny Ghosh contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-02-20-High-Tech%20NYPD/id-19e6d05e682949348c61acddaf359630

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