Belkin announced Tuesday that it's shipping its Thunderbolt Express Dock, an expansion chassis for Thunderbolt-equipped Macs that provides a Gigabit Ethernet connection, FireWire 800 port, two Thunderbolt ports, three USB 3.0 ports and separate headphone and mic jacks.
Belkin's aiming the device at MacBook Air and Pro users with Thunderbolt-equipped systems who want to be able to quickly connect to and disconnect from peripherals at their desk.
Belkin isn't the first out of the gate with one of these gadgets and they won't be the last. Do you have a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac? If so, do these sorts of gadgets appeal to you?
I?m a university student and due to my very tight budget, I don?t usually have many options when it comes to storing my items during the holidays. So it came as a relief when my mate recommended Removals Spain. After I called them up, I was ecstatic by the news. They told me they could supply a storage unit for me and they told me the price and everything. And, just as I?d imagined, they were just as good as they sounded on the phone. The storage unit was clean and dry, and all my items were looked after during my holidays. Thanks everyone!
NEW YORK/LONDON, April 30 (IFR) - Apple Inc wowed the debt markets on Tuesday with the largest non-bank bond deal in history, offering a whopping $17 billion for sale as the U.S. computer giant switches strategy to placate restless shareholders.
Just a week after announcing its first drop in quarterly earnings in a decade, Apple came to market with the massive deal to raise funds for an ambitious program that will return $100 billion in cash to holders of Apple shares.
Sources said investors could barely submit orders fast enough to get in on the deal from Apple, the only major tech company without a single penny of debt on its books.
The six-part all-dollar offering attracted more than $50 billion of orders by midday in New York - a massive level of demand even in the current red-hot climate of the bond markets.
"Apple made its intentions clear that this deal is for shareholder-friendly activity, but they have tremendous metrics and brand recognition," Rajeev Sharma, portfolio manager at First Investors Management Co, told IFR.
"Apple is something everyone wants in their portfolio."
The $17 billion size easily trumps the previous biggest single deal according to Thomson Reuters/IFR data, a $14.7 billion deal from Abbott Laboratories spin-off AbbVie last November.
Earlier, a source said potential investors had been told on Monday that this would be Apple's only bond deal of the year, apparently scuttling hopes of possible euro or sterling issues - and helping fuel demand for Tuesday's mega-deal, which was led by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.
CHANGING THEIR TUNE
The massive deal caps a milestone week for Apple, which in seven days has changed tack to satisfy its investor base, becoming the world's biggest dividend payer and recapturing its mantle as the world's largest company by stock market value at $413 billion.
Investors unhappy with Chief Executive Tim Cook's previous reluctance to share any of Apple's massive $145 billion cash pile with shareholders - and unimpressed by its diminishing prospects for earnings growth - had been relentless sellers of Apple's stock since its share price topped out above $705 in late September.
The stock tumbled more than 45 percent from September 21 through March 19, falling by roughly $320 per share.
But the stock has rallied more than 12 percent in the past 10 days as a new class of income-oriented investor, enticed by its dividend yield of nearly 3 percent, snaps up shares. They rose more than 3 percent on Tuesday to over $444.
Expectations for future profit growth have trailed off significantly in the past year. After 10 years of high double-digit profit growth, analysts on average now expect a 10-year compound annual earnings growth rate of less than 7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine, which tracks analyst forecasts.
RAISING THE CASH
Although the company has a staggering $145 billion in cash, only $45 billion of that is readily available in the United States - meaning Apple needs to raise about $60 billion over the next three years to fund the shareholder capital return plan.
Analysts suggest that hitting the debt markets now makes sense with interest rates - and thus the cost of raising funds - near record lows.
But the maker of the iconic iPad and iPhone failed to win the highest Triple A rating from agencies. S&P rated the company AA+, while Moody's rated it Aa1.
Nevertheless, the massive investor interest allowed Apple to tighten every tranche of the deal - from 3-year to a maximum 30-year tenor - by five basis points (bp) from guidance to launch.
The company is offering $1 billion of three-year floating-rate notes, $1.5 billion of three-year fixed-rate notes, $2 billion of five-year floating-rate notes, $4 billion of five-year fixed-rate notes, $5.5 billion of 10-year fixed-rate notes and $3 billion of 30-year fixed-rate notes.
Analysts had initially suspected that the overwhelming interest would allow Apple to price the deal even inside last week's bond from Microsoft.
But some investors said Apple was leaving some spread on the table so that the deal, which was to price later on Tuesday, would eventually trade tighter than the Microsoft issue - and so that Apple could get even better pricing next time round.
"If they are going to come back with another deal, be it in dollars or another currency, they will need to satisfy a similar investor type, so you want to leave a good taste in everyone's mouths," said Matt Duch, senior portfolio manager at Calvert Investments.
(Reporting by John Balassi and Josie Cox; Additional reporting by Danielle Robinson and Reuters News; Writing by Marc Carnegie; Editing by Ciara Linnane)
When you think about how you would deal with a zombie invasion, the weapons that come to mind probably don't include slingshots. But if the story of David and Goliath has taught us anything it's that slingshots are pretty deadly. Plus that whole underdog thing. Whatever.
If ever there was something bubbling out of the primordial ooze it's these little pools of light. There's something that's just gloopy and compelling about them. This is KIHOU, a series produced by tangent, a London/Tokyo design studio.
Basically different bowls hold a "sticky liquid" and a layer of black silicone oil. There are LEDs in the bottoms of the bowls and when a pump pushes air through the liquid, glowing bubbles break on the surface of the silicone oil. It's strange how little fluid bubbles can be so gripping. [Creative Applications]
Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org 617-534-2208 Brigham and Women's Hospital
Bioengineers create rubber-like material bearing micropatterns for stronger, more elastic hearts
Boston, MA A team of bioengineers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the first to report creating artificial heart tissue that closely mimics the functions of natural heart tissue through the use of human-based materials. Their work will advance how clinicians treat the damaging effects caused by heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
"Scientists and clinicians alike are eager for new approaches to creating artificial heart tissues that resemble the native tissues as much as possible, in terms of physical properties and function," said Nasim Annabi, PhD, BWH Renal Division, first study author. "Current biomaterials used to repair hearts after a heart attack and other cardiovascular events lack suitable functionality and strength. We are introducing an alternative that has the mechanical properties and functions of native heart tissue."
The study was published online on April 26, 2013 in Advanced Functional Materials.
The researchers created MeTro gelan advanced rubber-like material made from tropoelastin, the protein in human tissues that makes them elastic. The gel was then combined with microfabrication techniques to generate gels containing well-defined micropatterns for high elasticity.
The researchers then used these highly elastic micropatterned gels to create heart tissue that contained beating heart muscle cells.
"The micropatterned gel provides elastic mechanical support of natural heart muscle tissue as demonstrated by its ability to promote attachment, spreading, alignment, function and communication of heart muscle cells," said Annabi.
The researchers state that MeTro gel will provide a model for future studies on how heart cells behave. Moreover, the work lays the foundation for creating more elaborate 3D versions of heart tissue that will contain vascular networks.
"This can be achieved by assembling tandem layers of micropatterned MeTro gels seeded with heart muscles cells in different layers," said Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering, co-senior study author. "As we continue to move forward with finding better ways to mend a broken heart, we hope the biomaterials we engineer will allow us to successfully address the limitations of current artificial tissues."
###
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (HL092836, DE019024, EB012597, AR057837, DE021468, HL099073, EB008392); National Health and Medical Research Council; CRC for Polymers; BHP-Billiton Fulbright Scholarship; National Science Foundation; Office of Naval Research Young National Investigator Award; Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; Australian Research Council; and Australian Defense Health Foundation and National Health and Medical Research Council.
Anthony Weiss, PhD, University of Sydney, co-senior study author is scientific founder of Elastagen Pty Ltd.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare. BWH has more than 3.5 million annual patient visits, is the largest birthing center in New England and employs more than 15,000 people. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in patient care, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and its dedication to research, innovation, community engagement and educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving nearly 1,000 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by nearly $625 million in funding. BWH continually pushes the boundaries of medicine, including building on its legacy in organ transplantation by performing the first face transplants in the U.S. in 2011. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies, OurGenes and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information and resources, please visit BWH's online newsroom.
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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.
Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org 617-534-2208 Brigham and Women's Hospital
Bioengineers create rubber-like material bearing micropatterns for stronger, more elastic hearts
Boston, MA A team of bioengineers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the first to report creating artificial heart tissue that closely mimics the functions of natural heart tissue through the use of human-based materials. Their work will advance how clinicians treat the damaging effects caused by heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
"Scientists and clinicians alike are eager for new approaches to creating artificial heart tissues that resemble the native tissues as much as possible, in terms of physical properties and function," said Nasim Annabi, PhD, BWH Renal Division, first study author. "Current biomaterials used to repair hearts after a heart attack and other cardiovascular events lack suitable functionality and strength. We are introducing an alternative that has the mechanical properties and functions of native heart tissue."
The study was published online on April 26, 2013 in Advanced Functional Materials.
The researchers created MeTro gelan advanced rubber-like material made from tropoelastin, the protein in human tissues that makes them elastic. The gel was then combined with microfabrication techniques to generate gels containing well-defined micropatterns for high elasticity.
The researchers then used these highly elastic micropatterned gels to create heart tissue that contained beating heart muscle cells.
"The micropatterned gel provides elastic mechanical support of natural heart muscle tissue as demonstrated by its ability to promote attachment, spreading, alignment, function and communication of heart muscle cells," said Annabi.
The researchers state that MeTro gel will provide a model for future studies on how heart cells behave. Moreover, the work lays the foundation for creating more elaborate 3D versions of heart tissue that will contain vascular networks.
"This can be achieved by assembling tandem layers of micropatterned MeTro gels seeded with heart muscles cells in different layers," said Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, BWH Division of Biomedical Engineering, co-senior study author. "As we continue to move forward with finding better ways to mend a broken heart, we hope the biomaterials we engineer will allow us to successfully address the limitations of current artificial tissues."
###
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (HL092836, DE019024, EB012597, AR057837, DE021468, HL099073, EB008392); National Health and Medical Research Council; CRC for Polymers; BHP-Billiton Fulbright Scholarship; National Science Foundation; Office of Naval Research Young National Investigator Award; Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; Australian Research Council; and Australian Defense Health Foundation and National Health and Medical Research Council.
Anthony Weiss, PhD, University of Sydney, co-senior study author is scientific founder of Elastagen Pty Ltd.
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare. BWH has more than 3.5 million annual patient visits, is the largest birthing center in New England and employs more than 15,000 people. The Brigham's medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in patient care, quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, and its dedication to research, innovation, community engagement and educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving nearly 1,000 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by nearly $625 million in funding. BWH continually pushes the boundaries of medicine, including building on its legacy in organ transplantation by performing the first face transplants in the U.S. in 2011. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies, OurGenes and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information and resources, please visit BWH's online newsroom.
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?
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.
As sun-grazing comet ISON approaches the sun, it's getting progressively brighter ? and might even flare into a dazzling object bright enough to be visible in broad daylight.
By Joe Rao / April 25, 2013
Comet ISON was photographed by the Hubble telescope on April 10, 2013 when the comet was 386 million miles from the Sun (slightly closer than Jupiter's orbit). Around the time the 'comet of the century' makes its closest approach to the Sun, on November 28, it may briefly become brighter than the full Moon, say NASA researchers.
NASA Hubble telescope / Courtesy of NASA / Reuters
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An exceptional comet flying ever closer to the sun may offer an amazing naked eye sight to Earth dwellers this fall as it gradually brightens.
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As comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) continues to approach the sun, it is slowly responding to the increasing warmth of the sun and getting progressively brighter. The comet is getting considerable scrutiny from both amateur and professional scientists because it's a rare sungrazing comet, destined to approach to within 730,000 miles (1.17 million kilometers) of the surface of the sun on Nov. 28. Because of this extremely close approach, comet ISON holds the "potential" to flare into a dazzling object ? possibly becoming bright enough to be briefly glimpsed in broad daylight.?
Still, at this early stage in the comet's development, we can't be sure if this will actually happen.
A Swift look
Although still quite far from the sun and very faint, the comet has been imaged by two orbiting observatories. Astronomers from the University of Maryland at College Park and Lowell Observatory used NASA's Swift satellite to check out the comet during January and February. Using images acquired from Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope, the team was able to make initial estimates of the comet's water and dust production and then used these values to determine the size of ISON's icy nucleus. ?These observations revealed that each minute ISON was shedding about 56 tons (51,000 kg) of dust, or about two-thirds the mass of an unfueled space shuttle. Jets powered by sublimating ice also release dust, which reflects sunlight and brightens the comet.
By contrast, however, the comet was producing only about 130 pounds (60 kg) of water every minute, or about four times the amount flowing out of a residential sprinkler system. At the time, however, the comet was nearly half a billion miles from the sun. Typically, a comet's water content remains frozen until it comes within about three times Earth's distance to the sun ? about 280 million miles (450 million km) away. ISON won't be this close to the sun until early July at which time the water production rate should markedly increase.
The water and dust production rates from Swift were used to estimate the size of ISON's icy body. Comparing the amount of gas needed for a normal comet to blow off dust at the rate observed for ISON, the scientists estimate that the nucleus is roughly 3 miles (5 km) across, a typical size for a comet. This assumes that only the fraction of the surface most directly exposed to the sun, about 10 percent of the total, is actively producing jets.
Hubble's turn
More recently, Planetary Science Institute research scientist Jian-Yang Li led a team that imaged comet ISON with the Hubble Space Telescope on April 10 using the Wide Field Camera 3. At this point, the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter at 386 million miles (621 million kilometers) from the sun and 394 million miles (634 million kilometers) from Earth.
LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Manchester United will be backed by their owners to "kick on" after securing their 20th league title, manager Alex Ferguson said. United clinched the Premier League crown with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday and Ferguson is already making plans to defend it next year with the support of the club's American owners. "Having spoken with the Glazer family, there is every intention to kick on," Ferguson told reporters. "We possibly need two players. It depends. ...
Here are the terms of trades completed on Friday, April 26, the second day of the 2013 NFL Draft. All draft picks are 2013 selections unless otherwise noted:
The Titans acquired a second-round pick from San Francisco (No. 34 overall), sending second- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 40, 216) in 2013 and a 2014 third-rounder to the 49ers. The Titans selected Tennessee wide receiver Justin Hunter at No. 34. The 49ers took Florida State defensive lineman Cornellius ?Tank? Carradine at No. 40.
The Chargers traded for the Cardinals? second-round pick (No. 38), giving up second- and fourth-round picks (Nos. 45, 110) to Arizona. The Chargers used selection No. 38 on Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te?o, while the Cardinals took LSU linebacker Kevin Minter at No. 45.
The 49ers acquired the Packers? second-round pick (No. 55). In return, San Francisco surrendered second- and sixth-round picks (Nos. 61, 173). The 49ers took Rice tight end Vance McDonald at No. 55. The Packers used the No. 61 choice on Alabama running back Eddie Lacy.
The Ravens traded for the Seahawks? second-round selection (No. 56). Baltimore sent Seattle second-, fifth- and sixth-round picks (Nos. 62, 165, 199) to complete the deal. The Ravens took Kansas State linebacker Arthur Brown with pick No. 56. Six picks later, the Seahawks selected Texas A&M running back Christine Michael at No. 62.
The Saints acquired a third-round selection from Miami (No. 82). In exchange, the Dolphins received two fourth-round picks (Nos. 106, 109) from New Orleans. The Saints took Georgia nose tackle John Jenkins at No. 82. The Dolphins would trade selection No. 109 to Green Bay.
The 49ers traded for the Packers? third-round choice (No. 88), surrendering third- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 93, 216) to Green Bay. With pick No. 88, San Francisco chose Auburn defensive lineman Corey Lemonier. The Packers would deal the 93rd selection to Miami (see next entry).
The Dolphins acquired a third-round pick from Green Bay (No. 93), giving up fourth-, fifth- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 109, 146, 224). The Dolphins selected Utah State cornerback Will Davis at No. 93.
The Dolphins traded wide receiver Davone Bess and their fourth- and seventh-round picks (Nos. 111, 217) to Cleveland. In return, the Browns sent the Dolphins fourth- and fifth-round picks (Nos. 104, 164).
The Saints traded running back Chris Ivory to the Jets in exchange for New York?s fourth-round pick (No. 106). The Saints dealt No. 106 in a package for pick No. 82, which was used on Georgia nose tackle John Jenkins.
(Reuters) - A proposed merger of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and Actavis Inc was put on hold after the two drugmakers failed to agree on terms of a deal that would have created a healthcare giant with a combined market value of $35 billion, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters on Saturday.
Actavis spokesman David Belian and Valeant spokeswoman Laurie Little both declined to comment.
Canada's Valeant was seeking to buy smaller U.S. rival Actavis for more than $13 billion before the discussions started to unravel late this week because of disagreements on the proposed terms, the source said. It was not clear on Saturday if the merger could be revived.
Valeant, which has a market capitalization of about $22.2 billion, said in February it was in talks to make more acquisitions, and it remains open to discuss a potential "merger of equals," even as it aims to lower its $10.8 billion debt.
The Montreal-based company has aggressively built up its dermatology and aesthetics portfolio in the United States in the past year, acquiring about a dozen assets or smaller companies, most recently winning a short bidding war for Obagi Medical Products.
Actavis, the third-largest global generic drugmaker, is itself the product of a merger. The company changed its name in January from Watson after buying Actavis as part of its strategy to expand in international markets and offer more specialty drugs.
Valeant, which was formerly known as Biovail before it acquired Valeant and assumed its name, is scheduled to report first-quarter results on Thursday.
(Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Jessica Toonkel in New York; Additional reporting and writing by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Cli-fi, or 'climate fiction,' describes a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future. And don't call it 'science fiction.' Cli-fi is literary fiction.
By Husna Haq,?Correspondent / April 26, 2013
'Odds Against Tomorrow,' a novel by Nathaniel Rich, is an example of the emerging 'cli-fi' genre.
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Climate change has been cited as the cause behind a raft of recent phenomena, from increasing turbulence on planes to rising rates of malaria, dengue, and even domestic abuse.
And now it?s hit the publishing world.
The next hot trend in books, it turns out isn?t Fifty Shades-esque erotica ? it?s climate change.
That?s according to a fascinating report by NPR, ?Has Climate Change Created a New Literary Genre??
?Over the past decade, more and more writers have begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our own, where the Earth's systems are noticeably off-kilter,? reports Angela Evancie for NPR. ?The genre has come to be called climate fiction ? 'cli-fi,' for short.?
Among the titles in this emerging literary genre is ?Odds Against Tomorrow,? by Nathaniel Rich, a novel about a futurist who calculates worst-case scenarios for corporations, including the very scenario that landed on the book?s cover: the Manhattan skyline, half-submerged in water. (We should note, the book, and cover, were created before Hurricane Sandy.)?
Other books include Michael Crichton?s 2004 novel, ?State of Fear,? about ecoterrorists; Ian McEwan?s ?Solar,? about impending environmental disaster; and Barbara Kingsolver?s ?Flight Behavior,? about a world turned upside down by climate change.
There are two key points to emphasize in this trend. Cli-fi describes a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future, and it isn?t non-fiction or even science fiction: cli-fi is about literary fiction.
As interesting as this new development is, we shouldn?t be too surprised. After all, whether it?s the Industrial Revolution, the Cold War, or the tech bubble, cultural and environmental milestones have historically shaped the world we ? and by extension, the characters we read about ? live in.?
In this case, literature might actually prove to be a surprise secret weapon of sorts, helping scientists convey the issue to disinterested ? or dubious ? audiences.
That?s because ?when novelists tackle climate change in their writing, they reach people in a way that scientists can't,? says NPR.
"You know, scientists and other people are trying to get their message across about various aspects of the climate change issue," Judith Curry, professor and chair of Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, tells NPR. "And it seems like fiction is an untapped way of doing this ? a way of smuggling some serious topics into the consciousness" of readers who may not be following the science.
We?re fascinated by this emerging genre and if one cli-fi writer is on the mark, we?ll be seeing a lot more of it in coming years.
Predicted Daniel Kramb, the cli-fi novelist behind ?From Here,? the 2012 novel about climate change activists, ?I think when [people] look back at this 21st century ... they will definitely see climate change as one of the major themes in literature, if not the major theme.?
LivingSocial's customer database has been hacked, impacting the website's 50 million customers. The firm began sending emails to customers Friday afternoon telling them they would have to change their site passwords.
"We recently experienced a cyber-attack on our computer systems that resulted in unauthorized access to some customer data from our servers. We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this issue," LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy said in an email to employees that was provided to NBC News by a company spokesman.
The memo said that customer credit card information was not stolen ? it was stored in a separate database. And while the hacker stole customer passwords, they were encrypted and "salted," or scrambled.
In the memo,?O'Shaughnessy included the text of the customer email. "Although your LivingSocial password would be difficult to decode, we want to take every precaution to ensure that your account is secure, so we are expiring your old password and requesting that you create a new one," read the email.
The company advised consumers who used their LivingSocial password at other sites to change the password at those sites, also.
The firm expects its customer service phone lines to be deluged, so O'Shaughnessy warned that he may decide to temporarily suspend telephone customer service. "We will be devoting all available resources to our Web-based servicing," he added.
O'Shaughnessy's message to employees concluded:
I apologize for the formality of this note, which the circumstances demand. We need to do the right thing for our customers who place their trust in us, and that is why we?re taking the steps described and going above and beyond what?s required. We?ll all need to work incredibly hard over the coming days and weeks to validate that faith and trust.
When Zappos.com had a similar incident last year impacting its 24 million customers, it also turned off customer service telephone lines temporarily.
The LivingSocial attack is among the largest ever, doubling the size of that Zappos attack, but still smaller than several other high-profile hacks, such as the 2011 attack on Sony's Playstation network, which impacted nearly 100 million users. Because the LivingSocial attack doesn't involve financial information, it doesn't rank among the most significant hacks, however.
Amazon is a part-owner of LivingSocial. A LivingSocial representative confirmed that Amazon accounts were not affected by the breach.
ZUBOVA POLYANA, Russia (AP) ? A Russian court is to consider whether one of the jailed Pussy Riot band members is eligible for early release as she has served a half of her two-year sentence.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who has been in custody since her arrest last March, is serving the sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.
A court in Zubova Polyana opened the hearings Friday morning as dozens of journalists descended on this small town in the central province of Mordovia, home to a sprawling web of Soviet-era prison camps.
Tolokonnikova and two other female members of the punk band were convicted last year of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for an anti-Putin performance at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. One of the women, Yekaterina Samutsevich, has had her sentence suspended on appeal.
Tolokonnikova, 23, dressed in a Soviet-style dark-blue prison uniform with a white scarf around her neck, told the court that the prison colony did not support her plea of early release because she "didn't repent." Russia law does not make repentance a condition for an early release.
Leading Tolokonnikova's defense team is Irina Khrunova who secured Samutsevich's release possible.
Defense lawyers urged the court to release Tolokonnikov so that she can take care of her 5-year-old daughter. Attorney Dmitry Dinze also complained that prison officials seem unable to provide proper conditions to treat her persistent headaches.
__
Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed to this report from Moscow.
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.
This week I'm writing from a special place: from the perspective of a Google Glass owner. Well, to be honest I'm not wearing them this exact moment -- I'm actually at 30,000 feet, making the most of a Gogo connection, and when your phone is in airplane mode there's not much point in wearing the headset. Unless, of course, you're looking for a conversation starter. In that role, the headset performs impeccably even when turned completely off.
It's been an interesting couple days wearing the headset around, days I'll continue to chronicle on the site because I know many of you are eager to know what Glass is like. I know this because I've had dozens of strangers come up to me and ask, "What's it like?" Suffice to say, Glass is very interesting and the potential is compelling, but right now the thing is somewhat frustrating in its limited functionality. That'll change real soon as more developers get to grips with the Mirror API.
Apparently, it?s that time of year again! You know. That time of year where your friends annoy the crap out of you by participating in some silly social media prank disguised as awareness. And lucky us! It?s about breast cancer AGAIN! Because as you know, there are so MANY people on FB still unaware that it exists and we have to raise consciousness because there are not enough pink balloons in the ariport. Ammirite!
Here is my weekly I-haven?t-had-enough-coffee-yet-but-I?m-still-talking video on the subject. Enjoy!
Slactivism. Definition from Urban dictionary: ?The act of participating in obviously pointless activities as an expedient alternative to actually expending effort to fix a problem. Signing an email petition to stop rampant crime is slacktivism. Want to really make your community safer? Get off your ass and start a neighborhood watch!?
Text from image above that I read in the video:
Ok pretty ladies, it is that time of year again?support of breast cancer So we all remember last year?s game of writing your bra color as your status? Or the way we like to have our handbag handy? Last year, so many people took part that it made national news? and the constant updating of status reminded everyone why we?re doing this and helped raise awareness! Do NOT tell any males what the status means?keep them guessing!! And please copy and paste this in a message to all your female friends.The idea is to choose the month you were born and the day you were born. Pass this on to the GIRLS ONLY and let?s see how far it reaches around. The last one about the bra went around all over the world. YOUR STATUS SHOULD SAY: ?I am going to Mexico for 21 months.? The month you were born is the Place you are going, and the day you were born should be how many months you are gone?. January ? Mexico February ? London March ? Miami April ? Dominican Republic May ? Paris, France June ? Rome July ? Hawaii August ? California September ? New York October ? Puerto Rico November ? Las Vegas December ? Australia Please do it, don?t be a spoil sport?show your awareness for Breast Cancer! Don?t forget to pass it on!
My response: No.
Is this helpful in any way? Am I a ?spoil sport? for refusing to play along and for discussing it here, in front of men? Are we hiding this ?TRUTH? from the men because we don?t want them to know that men can get breast cancer too? What better, more effective outreach could we do for breast cancer awareness?
ALSO! We had a COTW from last week?s post! WOOOT! Congrats to commenter, izillari! Izilari send me your shipping address through the contact link on the top of the page, Put ATTENTION SURLY AMY and I will send you your very own bar of Dove soap AND a surprise!
The winning comment: ?Beauty-schmeauty; when you make a soap that soothes murderous rage and repels swarming toxic commercial messages I might be interested, Dove.?
This week if we have a winning COTW in my post, I will send out a fabulous Surly surprise -something made by me! To participate in my Comment of the Week shenanigans and giveaways just reply to any comment that you find funny or poignant by putting ?COTW? in the message. I will pick a winner each week. Good luck and happy commenting!
The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3pm ET.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LivingSocial, the second-largest daily deal company behind Groupon Inc, said on Friday it was hit by a cyber attack that may have affected more than 50 million customers.
The company said the attack on its computer systems resulted in unauthorized access to customer data, including names, email addresses, date of birth for some users and "encrypted" passwords.
LivingSocial stressed customer credit card and merchants' financial and banking information were not affected or accessed. It also does not store passwords in plain text.
"We are actively working with law enforcement to investigate this issue," the company, part-owned by Amazon.com Inc, wrote in an email to employees.
LivingSocial does not disclose how many customers it has. However, spokesman Andrew Weinstein said "a substantial portion" of the company's customer base was affected. LivingSocial is also contacting customers who closed accounts, because it still has their information stored in databases, he added.
The attack hit customers in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Southern Europe and Latin America. Customers in South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand were not affected, Weinstein said.
"In light of recent successful widespread attacks against major social networking sites, it's obvious that these providers are simply not doing enough to protect their customers' information," said George Tubin, senior security strategist at Trusteer, a computer security company.
The attack comes as LivingSocial struggles to handle a decline in consumer and merchant demand for daily deals. The company raised $110 million from investors, including Amazon earlier this year, but was forced to make large concessions to get the new money.
Amazon invested $56 million in LivingSocial in the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing on Friday, which also revealed the company had a first-quarter operating loss of $44 million on revenue of $135 million.
LivingSocial said on Friday it was beginning to contact more than 50 million customers whose data may have been affected by the cyber attack.
LivingSocial told customers in an email that they should log on to LivingSocial.com to create a new password for their accounts.
"We also encourage you, for your own personal data security, to consider changing password(s) on any other sites on which you use the same or similar password(s)," LivingSocial Chief Executive Tim O'Shaughnessy wrote in the email.
"We are sorry this incident occurred."
All Things D reported the cyber attack earlier on Friday.
(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Bernard Orr and Andre Grenon)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Gwyneth Paltrow says she's thrilled to be picked by People magazine as "World's Most Beautiful Woman" for 2013 but it's "obviously not true."
Paltrow questioned her own selection as she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of "Iron Man 3" Wednesday night wearing a colorblocked illusion gown with wide sheer panels down the side ? shoulder to hip, except for the waistband ? that left almost nothing to the imagination.
"It's funny, these things, because it's like obviously not true. But it's very sweet to be named that," Paltrow told The Associated Press. "Because I mean you can't say that, you know! But it's been wonderful. It's been very wonderful. And as my friend said, it's so nice that someone who has kids and is a mom and is not like 21 is named that. It's really an honor."
Paltrow said her two children weren't aware of the news in this week's edition of the magazine, but she'd been getting plenty of congratulatory emails from friends and family.
The 40-year-old actress stars as Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's love interest and assistant-turned-business partner in the "Iron Man" trilogy. Her co-stars in "Iron Man 3" praised People's proclamation.
"Completely justified. Completely justified. She's gorgeous," said Guy Pearce.
"Let me tell you: She is as gracious and beautiful inside as she is outside. She's got a good heart. She's got a good heart. A lovely girl," said Ben Kingsley.
MADRID (AP) ? With more than 6 million unemployed for the first time ever, Spain's jobless rate shot up to a record 27.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the National Statistics Institute said Thursday, in another grim picture of the recession-wracked country.
The agency said the number of people unemployed rose by 237,400 people in the first three months of the year, a 1.1 percent increase from the previous quarter. The total out of work stood at 6.2 million people, the first time the number has breached the 6-million mark.
The number of people considered long-term unemployed ? out of a job for more than a year ? increased to 3.5 million, while the unemployment rate for those aged under 25 was a staggering 57 percent. The government body also said its survey found the number of households without anyone working rose by 72,400 to a 1.91 million.
"The situation is really bad, with all the cuts that there have been, there are families that are going through a bad time because a lot of families have all the members unemployed and they don't have any income," said shop assistant Rodrigo Limpias, 30.
Labor Ministry employment secretary Engracia Hidalgo described the figures as "dramatic" but said the government was working non-stop to try make Spain a job creator once again.
Spain has been in recession for much of the past four years as it struggles to deal with the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector in 2008. In the previous decade its economy was thriving, generating millions of jobs.
In just over a year in office, the conservative government has launched a series of financial and labor reforms and pursued a raft of spending cuts and tax increases that have managed to reduce a swollen deficit. Even so, the country had the highest budget deficit among the 17 European Union countries that use the euro in 2012.
"This is getting worse every day. (The government) has no solution, there are more and more people unemployed, and we don't have enough to eat," said Maria Carmen Huerta, 55, an unemployed IT worker.
The government's handling of the crisis has sparked almost daily protests.
Hours after the jobless data release, police clashed briefly with demonstrators after some 1,000 people held an anti-establishment rally close to Parliament.
Riot police made several baton-charges after a group of youths began to throw bottles and rocks at the officers following an otherwise peaceful rally. Several trash containers were set on fire. At least 15 people were arrested and 14 officers slightly injured.
Some 1,400 police were deployed around the Parliament building and barricades were set up on all side streets to prevent demonstrators from getting near the building.
Parliament cancelled its session for the day but blamed reasons other than the rally.
Several previous rallies close to Parliament have also ended in clashes with police.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry said police arrested four people and confiscated material they believe was to be used to start fires at bank offices in the city. The ministry claims violent, anti-establishment groups were behind the rally.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has acknowledged that 2013 will be a bad year but insists that it would have been worse without the reforms. The International Monetary Fund indicated last week that Spain's economy will contract by 1.6 percent this year.
The government is predicting that Spain will return to growth, which should help the labor market. Rajoy has promised reforms to be presented Friday that will "make the economy more flexible, more competitive and will turn those predictions around."
Opposition parties said the unemployment figures highlight how Rajoy's austerity policies are damaging the economy.
"Six million people unemployed is 6 million reasons for the government to withdraw the labor reform and change its economic policy," said Oscar Lopez of the leading opposition Socialist party.
But the EU's top economic official, Commissioner Olli Rehn, said, "Spain should maintain the reform momentum by including comprehensive and concrete policy measures" in its programs.
He said that "despite significant progress in 2012, there are still excessive macroeconomic imbalances," with high domestic and external debt continuing to pose risks for growth and financial stability.
____
Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz in Brussels contributed to this report.
Hundreds of scientists, engineers and space-law experts are gathering this week to discuss the growing problem of space debris, and will propose ways to curb the accumulation of new junk in orbit.
The 6th European Conference on Space Debris is being held April 22-25 at the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany. More than 300 representatives, ranging from researchers to policymakers, are expected to attend the four-day event, according to officials at the European Space Agency (ESA).
Conference attendees will discuss the buildup of potentially harmful debris in orbit, and address possible ways to remove defunct satellites and other pieces of errant space hardware.
More than 170 million pieces of space junk are currently orbiting Earth, including 29,000 objects that are larger than 4 inches (10 centimeters), according to ESA estimates. As they speed through space at 17,000 mph (27,000 km/h), these objects pose collision risks to both other satellites in orbit and the International Space Station.
"Any of these objects can harm an operational spacecraft," Heiner Klinkrad, head of ESA's Space Debris Office, said in a statement.
Roughly two-thirds of the known pieces of debris were created by explosions in orbit or collisions, ESA officials said.
In 2009, a U.S. Iridium communications satellite was struck by a defunct Russian Cosmos military satellite in what became a wake-up call for the industry. The crash destroyed the two spacecraft and left a huge cloud of debris.
Then, in 2007, China intentionally destroyed one of its aging weather satellites in a controversial anti-satellite test that littered Earth?s orbit with more than 2,500 scraps of space junk.
Since then, researchers and satellite operators have tried to tackle the issue of sustainability in space.
"Space-debris mitigation measures, if properly implemented by satellite designers and mission operators, can curtail the growth rate of the debris population," Klinkrad said. "Active debris removal, however, has been shown to be necessary to reverse the debris increase."
But finding any solution to the space-debris problem will require a collaborative approach.
"As this is a global task, active removal is a challenge that should be undertaken by joint efforts in cooperation with the world's space agencies and industry," Thomas Reiter, ESA's director of human spaceflight and operations, said in a statement.
Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Even with $145 billion in its back pocket, Apple isn't above the odd bit of cost-saving. Following rumors that its new campus was $2 billion over budget, the company has revised its plans for the facility. While the UFO-style HQ is untouched, a secondary complex that was to be built along North Tantau Ave. has been pushed back to phase two -- which means it'll begin construction in 2016, just after people start working in the spaceship.
Zalora, Rocket Internet?s pan-Asian fashion retail site, has launched an iOS app, as it seeks to capture the growing base of consumers in Asia who are using smartphones as their primary, and sometimes only, way of getting online.
The Zalora app was quietly released to the Apple App Store on the 17th of April before the wider announcement today, and was built by the company?s Singapore operations. It said last month it started building a regional software development center here to work on its Web platform and mobile apps, so it?s likely we?ll see more apps coming out for the store.
The iOS app allows you to browse and buy items on the store organized by brand or category, and rate favorites as well. Zalora says the app?s catalog is pulled from the store?s various collections across its inventory for different countries, so it sounds like you might be able to view more items in the app than on its country-specific sites.
Zalora is Singapore-based, and is barely a year old. It?s gone through an aggressive expansion in the region, and is in now eight markets in Asia: Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. It?s most recent round of funding was $26 million in March led by German retail conglomerate Tengelmann, just six months after an undisclosed, double-digit million sum from JP Morgan.
Given its focus on Asia, it?s curious that Zalora decided to debut on the iPhone instead of Android phones, which are more popular in the region. According to a consumer study done in Southeast Asia by Ericsson, by the third quarter last year?31 percent of phones here were Android-based. The iPhone had about 19 percent of the overall handset market.
One country does buck that trend, however. Zalora?s headquarters of Singapore?has a 46 percent adoption of iOS, and just 29 percent for Android. Singapore has a smartphone penetration of around 90 to 92 percent, depending on who you ask, so those numbers are generally higher than neighboring countries.
Zalora has also been diverting some resources to the mobile interface. This is its first native app, but it launched a mobile site in January.
We?ve reached out to Zalora for more details on its mobile strategy, and will update as we hear from it.
Rocket Internet GmbH invests in the development of innovative companies in the internet industry. Their passionate, dynamic, highly motivated team works to establish promising business models in the market.
BANGKOK (AP) ? An increase in new U.S. home sales and strong corporate earnings across a range of industries lifted investment sentiment in Asia, where most stock markets rose Wednesday.
Luxury handbag maker Coach, Lockheed Martin and DuPont reported results that were better than analysts expected. Netflix, which streams TV shows and movies over the Internet, announced profits that delighted investors. Meanwhile, the U.S. government reported that sales of new homes rose 1.5 percent in March, adding to evidence of a sustained housing recovery.
That offset results of a survey into manufacturing conditions among the 17 European Union countries that use the euro. The monthly purchasing managers' index fell to a 3-month low in April.
"Sentiment was upbeat yesterday as solid US earnings and new home sales data helped equities shrug off disappointing PMI data earlier in the day," Gary Yau at Credit Agricole CIB said in a commentary.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.3 percent to 13,703.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1 percent to 22,014.90. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 percent to 1,933.83. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.4 percent to 5,087.90.
On Wall Street, corporate earnings propelled all three major indexes higher. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 1.1 percent, to close at 14,719.46. The S&P 500 index rose 1 percent to 1,578.78. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.1 percent to 3,269.33.
Later Wednesday in the U.S., consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, drug maker Eli Lilly and Boeing will release earnings. United Parcel Service, Exxon Mobil and Amazon are among the corporations that will do so on Thursday.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 20 cents to $89.38 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 1 cent to close at $89.18 a barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.
In currencies, the euro rose slightly to $1.2993 from $1.2991 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 99.30 yen from 99.44 yen.
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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