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Top Items:
Randall Stross / New York Times:
From 10 Hours a Week, $10 Million a Year — MARKUS FRIND, a 29-year-old Web entrepreneur, has not read the best seller "The 4-Hour Workweek" — in fact, he had not heard of it when asked last week — but his face could go on the book's cover. He developed software for his online dating site …
Discussion: HipMojo.com, WebMetricsGuru, Silicon Alley Insider, mathewingram.com/work, Mashable!, Mark Evans and The Paradigm Shift
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Plenty of Fish: Disrupting the Disrupted
Marshall Sponder / WebMetricsGuru: Ten Million Dollars a year for an ugly site - Plenty of Fish
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider: The sexiest business in the world is not the music business …
Paul Glazowski / Mashable!: How To Work 10 Hours Per Week And Make $10 Million A Year
Jon Mooallem / New York Times:
The Afterlife of Cellphones — 1. Cellphones in Hell — Americans threw out just shy of three million tons of household electronics in 2006. This so-called e-waste is the fastest-growing part of the municipal waste stream and, depending on your outlook, either an enormous problem or a bonanza.
Discussion: Gizmodo, textually.org, michael parekh on IT and deal architect
Henry Blodget / Silicon Alley Insider:
"U.S. Economy Screwed" — The recession-deniers having been muzzled by a horrendous last two weeks of December, the gloom-and-doomers are now out in force. Their key arguments: — Plummeting housing will now drag down the rest of the economy. — The "bad debt" problem is not just …
Discussion: HipMojo.com
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Negativity Breeds Negativity — Some of the worst financing …
David Kravets / Wired News:
DRM Is Dead, But Watermarks Rise From Its Ashes — With all of the Big Four record labels now jettisoning digital rights management, music fans have every reason to rejoice. But consumer advocates are singing a note of caution, as the music industry experiments with digital-watermarking technology as a DRM substitute.
Discussion: mathewingram.com/work, Rough Type, TECH.BLORGE.com, Life On the Wicked Stage, TeleRead and Mashable!
Triston McIntyre / TECH.BLORGE.com: Media groups drop DRM for more invasive watermarking
Warner Crocker / Life On the Wicked Stage: The Myth of El Dorado
David Rothman / TeleRead: 'DRM is dead, but watermarks rise from the ashes'
Paul Glazowski / Mashable!: Substituting Digital Watermarks for DRM
Allen Salkin / New York Times:
Has Gawker Jumped the Snark? — "THE ideal Gawker item," Nick Denton, the owner of Gawker Media, wrote in an instant message last month to a prospective hire, "is something triggered by a quote at a party, or an incident, or a story somewhere else and serves to expose hypocrisy, or turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Discussion: Techmamas, Gawker, mathewingram.com/work, BOINKOLOGY and Life On the Wicked Stage
Beth Blecherman / Techmamas: Tech-snark Anyone? — I have been spending way too much time reading about gizmodogate.
Nick Denton / Gawker: Always Jumping The Shark
Lux Alptraum / BOINKOLOGY: Fleshbot: The Site That Must Not Be Named
Warner Crocker / Life On the Wicked Stage: Sunday Morning Reading
Chris Ziegler / Engadget:
Firm shows off functional Android build on ancient HTC hardware — California-based a la Mobile has crafted a somewhat complete set of phone apps in prototype form — you know, the most basic kinds of things you'd need on a smartphone to make it usable — on top of Android …
Discussion: Mashable!
Chris Sorensen / Toronto Star:
Telus considers dumping its 'Betamax' of wireless networks — With more wireless competition looming, executives at Telus Corp. are believed to be mulling a pricey swap of the firm's network technology in a bid to offer subscribers a bigger selection of mobile devices and grab a larger slice of lucrative international roaming fees.
Discussion: Roam4free and All About Nortel
Mark Evans / All About Nortel: CDMA: The "Betamax" of Wireless
John Siracusa / Ars Technica:
Great. Expectations. — There's a delicate balance to Stevenote expectations. The hype drives us all to pursue every shred of information leaking out about the big day, right up to mere moments before Jobs takes the stage. The rumors, the patent filing, the retail store stock levels …
Discussion: BBC NEWS
Darren Waters / BBC NEWS | dot.life: Apple of all eyes? — Another year, another Macworld …
Liz Gannes / NewTeeVee:
Striking Writers to Launch Online Video Co., Seeking $30M+ — Out of work and newly wise to the state of content being distributed online, a group of professional writers is looking to start their own production and distribution company. Aaron Mendelsohn, writer of the Disney film Air Bud …
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: Striking Writers: Venture Capitalists vs. Media Moguls?
Paul Glazowski / Mashable!: WGA Collective To Start Independent "Virtual Artists" Venture
Jens Alfke / Thought Palace:
Gone Indie — OK, by popular complaint I've cracked open the stylesheet and (a) darkened both comments and body text; and (b) fixed the problem with magnified text. — My apologies. I actually do like web design, but my patience with it is more limited than at regular programming …
Discussion: Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life, Chuqui 3.0 and Infinite Loop
China blogger beaten to death — (CNN) — Authorities have fired an official in central China after city inspectors beat to death a man who filmed their confrontation with villagers, China's Xinhua news agency reports. — The killing has sparked outrage in China, with thousands expressing outrage …
Discussion: Google Blogoscoped, TechCrunch, Reporters Without Borders and mathewingram.com/work
Philipp Lenssen / Google Blogoscoped: Chinese Killed by City Inspectors For Recording Protest
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch: Chinese Blogger Beaten To Death By Government Officials
Reporters Without Borders: Shock at beating death of executive who filmed police violence with mobile phone
Ryan Kairer / PalmInfocenter.com:
Palm's Next Generation OS is Code-named Nova — Recently the question of what to call Palm's next generation OS has been a source of confusion and commotion around the boards here at PIC. Members have so far been referring to it by a multitude of names and acronyms such as: Palm OS 2 …
Discussion: Pocket PC Thoughts, TreoCentral, IntoMobile and Engadget Mobile
Ed Hansberry / Pocket PC Thoughts: Next Palm OS Codenamed Nova
Jennifer Chappell / TreoCentral: Is Palm's Next Generation OS called Nova?
Chris Ziegler / Engadget Mobile: Palm's new OS codenamed "Nova"?
5 Who Won't Appreciate Google Android — Written by Thomas Howe, co-founder and CEO of The Thomas Howe Company, winners of the 2007 O'Reilly Emerging Communications Mashup Competition. His blog is about voice mashups and communication-enhanced business processes.
Discussion: DSLreports
Howard Owens:
Five easy things journalists can do to help their web sites — Hey, Mr. Reporter, you like your job, right? — You do realize, don't you, that its advertising that pays your salary, right? — And newspaper advertising is getting hammered. — Online news sites, however, well …


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About Us
About Us
AnytimeCostumes is one of the oldest, and most exciting, costume and accessory etailers. AnytimeCostumes is your year-round source for infant, children and adult costumes, teen, sexy and couples costumes; even pet and mascot costumes. AnytimeCostumes also has the largest selection of hats, wigs, masks, accessories and make-up, as well as seasonal holiday decorations and props.
AnytimeCostumes offers over 4,000 different costumes and accessories in the latest styles and from the hottest licenses including Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon, Barbie, Star Wars, Superman, Universal, Playboy, and so many others. There is no place better to shop than AnytimeCostumes for Halloween. Our merchandising group has more experience than any other costume retailer or etailer in the country. At AnytimeCostumes, costumes are not just about Halloween.
We offer fabulous high quality adult costumes, theatrical costumes, costumes for school performances, and mascots for schools and businesses. We also carry a huge selection of costumes for all holidays including Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Purim, President's Day, Luau, 4th of July and Thanksgiving.
AnytimeCostumes is dedicated to making your costume shopping experience an easy, fun, safe and satisfying experience. We hope you enjoy shopping with us. Please contact us with any question or comments. We would love to hear from you.

subset: commoncrawl


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Planetary Vision: Tom Nelson & Steve Goddard suspension, a reminder Twitter's part of the Establishment
I was inspired by Tom Nelson to utilise Twitter a lot to express my climate views. I know Twitter is public, and anyone can see it. But this supension's a timely reminder that Twitter is also an organ of the establishment. They monitor and surveille, and will shut up free speech if their schemes such as global warming are threatened.
Tom Nelson is an important account for us climate sceptics and not having it damages Twitter's credibility as a platform for free speech, and for an open exchange of views.
Although in the scheme of things it will statistically be just be a blip for a company as large as Twitter if sceptics boycott en masse, it will be a blow to the Twitter brand.
I VERY much appreciate the idea of boycotting Twitter, but since I think that's Mann et al's dream, let's not do it.


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When I began Shareology a month ago (Happy Birthday, Shareology!) I struggled with the diversity of subject matter I wanted to cover. I'm interested in a LOT of stuff. The four years Shareology spent at a career counselor resulted in a number of topics of interest in today's economy. How to reconcile that with marketing and retail point-of-purchase and shopper marketing and social media? I can't possibly do a blog: folks like a tad of focus as they click. What to do?
Finally it dawned on me: career exploration boils down to networking: networking is now centered on social media: and social media is a set of tools for today's marketing. Whadaya know? It does all connect! Shareology has a focus!
And the actual word Shareology? A gracious gift from Agency Babylon, (@AgencyBabylon, http://agencybabylon.wordpress.com/ ), leftover from a branding session this summer. The client went with another name for his digital out-of-home network, and Shareology was thus available for use.
Thanks to those readers who made Shareology's first month so much fun; a special thank you to the tweeple who posted comments. It's been a delight to read the intelligent, funny and thoroughly engaging words in your comments. Shareology readers Rock!!
Kay Roseland @KayLoire


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Last night, at a formal presentation at Minneapolis's Guthrie Theater, the Vikings released the first renderings of their new billion-dollar stadium.
$975 million does not buy the Vikings a retractable roof, as many had suspected. But this is the next best thing: a happy medium between the claustrophobic Metrodome and the exposed-to-the-elements Target Field. The new Vikings stadium will feature the world's largest transparent roof, and giant pivoting doors at the west end that open up onto downtown.
It's about what you'd expect from HKS, the architectural firm whose signature is making the enclosed feel airy. HKS is responsible for Cowboys Stadium, Miller Park, and perhaps the Vikings stadium's closest analogue, Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium.
The stadium is set to open in 2016, built on the ruins of the Metrodome. Barring any unforeseen holdups, this will be the Vikings' last season in the Metrodome—they'll play two years at UM's TCF Bank Stadium during construction.
More drawings of the giant glass Viking longship, complete with Adrian Peterson on the "prow":


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Juegos gratis en linea
Juegos gratis en linea
Alien Bio Lab
Help Flubby to create new and rare alien species in one of the zaniest free online games! Alien Bio Lab is like some of the other free matching games such as Candy Crush or Bejeweled, except with a nice little twist. Instead of swapping gems or other items, you have to move and shift paired aliens around the board via tetris style gameplay. Combine aliens 3 of a kind to morph them into a new species à la traditional match 3 games! Be careful though, because if you fill up the board with clutter it's game over! How many different aliens can you make in this charming online puzzle game?
Puzzle Games
Puzzle Bobo
Classic arcade action at it's best! Strike down similar bubbles to fill your energy bar! Once filled, you are able to use powerful boosters like bombs and iron balls! Solve difficult level and beat up the highscore!
Board Games, Puzzle Games
Animals & Colors
Animals and Colors is a charming free online brain game that offers plenty of challenge and family fun. Friendly animals are displayed on screen in a whole slew of varying colors, right alongside a question. You must pay attention and answer correctly as fast as you can. The game calls for you to match the animal, or even match the colors on screen. It's like the age old memory game where you have to recall pictures, only with cute little animals instead. At the conclusion, this online puzzle game will tell you how fast your total reaction time is. What are you waiting for? Get out there and play so you can get some brain exercise!
Skill, Games for Girls
Berry Bug
Bob the adorable bug dreamed of delicious strawberries day in, day out! Help him to solve his way through the level by collecting as much strawberries as you can! Unlock the endless mode and beat up the highscore!
Puzzle Games
Candy Rush
Crush the delicious candy! A new type of Match-3 saga game to break your mind! Compete against the clock and collect points while matching your favorite candies! But remember to match a candy on each tile of the grid until the time runs out. Two interesting logics combined in this cute game. Play it now. (Best experience on tablet devices)
Board Games
Bubble Dash
Burst as many same-colored Bubbles as possible within 60 seconds! Bubble Dash is FREE, fun, and fantastic! Start shooting and popping your bubbles today!
TOP Games
Bug Match
A new type of Match-3 game to break your mind! Compete against the clock and collect points while matching bugs! But remember to match a bug on each tile of the grid until the time runs out. Two interesting logics combined in this cute game. Play it now. (Best experience on tablet devices)
Board Games


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May 22, 2010
PRINCETON, N.J. – For the second time in program history the Notre Dame men's lacrosse team has advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship. Notre Dame defeated No. 3 Maryland, 7-5, in the NCAA quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon at Princeton Stadium. The Terrapins were the tournament's third seed, while the Irish are not seeded.
A hat trick from sophomore attackman Sean Rogers (New Hyde Park, N.Y./Holy Trinity) and a defense that allowed just five goals for the second straight game was the story of the day for the Fighting Irish, who never trailed in the contest.
"Our guys just played their hearts out," said Irish junior defenseman Kevin Ridgway (Kensington, Md./Georgetown Prep). "I thought we matched up pretty well with them (Maryland). We locked down and did what we always do, give them low-angle shots for the big guy (goalie Scott Rodgers). We came in with that game plan and I think we executed pretty well today."
Notre Dame (9-6) got on the board with 10:10 left in the first quarter as Rogers found the back of the net. Maryland (12-4) answered with 8:25 showing on the clock in the quarter on a goal from Scott Larue. Following that Terrapin tally, Notre Dame went on a 4-0 run, spanning 16:24.
The Irish surge began on a David Earl (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School) goal with 8:00 left in the opening quarter. Notre Dame went up by two (3-1) with 3:33 left in the first quarter on a Max Pfeifer (Crozet, Va./Western Albemarle) goal. Rogers netted his second goal of the game with 1:48 left in the first quarter to give Notre Dame a three-goal edge (4-1) after the opening 15 minutes of play.
A Nicholas Beattie (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) goal with 8:36 left in the second quarter gave Notre Dame a four-goal cushion (5-1). Maryland put a halt to the Irish uprising on a Jake Bernhardt goal with 7:01 remaining in the first half. The Terrapins sliced the Irish lead to two (5-3) three minutes later on a John Haus tally. Notre Dame led 5-3 at the intermission.
"Scoring early was big for us," stated Rogers. "With the success our midfield has had, we knew coming in the focus would be on them. I had the shorty (short-stick midfielder) today and I tried to take advantage of it and the shots went in."
A man-up goal from Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) put Notre Dame back up by three (6-3) in the opening minutes of the second half. Rogers completed his hat trick with 2:00 left in the third quarter to give the Irish a 7-3 lead.
It marked the second career hat trick for Rogers, who scored on all three shots that he took on Saturday. The sophomore tallied three goals earlier this season against Denver.
Maryland notched its first goal of the second half with 1:06 showing on the clock in the third period when Travis Reed scored. Notre Dame led by three (7-4) after three quarters of play.
The game's final goal came with 12:15 left in the contest on a goal from Maryland's Joe Cummings.
The Notre Dame defense stifled a Terrapin offense that entered the game averaging 11.71 goals per game. The Irish held Maryland's Grant Catalino, who has team-high totals in goals (34) and points (54), without a point.
Fighting Irish senior goalie Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made eight saves in the win. His counterpart Brian Phipps made 13 stops for Maryland. Notre Dame won the ground ball battle, 31-24.
The Notre Dame defense has surrendered only 10 goals during the first two games of the 2010 NCAA Championship. The Irish held No. 6 Princeton to five goals in an 8-5 victory last Sunday. The five goals allowed are the fewest in program history for an NCAA Tournament game.
Notre Dame senior midfielder Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) won 10 of 15 faceoff attempts. Maryland held a 33-28 edge in shots. Junior long-stick midfielder Andrew Irving (McLean, Va./The Hotchkiss School) had game-high totals in caused turnovers (3) and ground balls (7) for the Fighting Irish.
Prior to today, Notre Dame had been 0-4 all-time against Maryland. The Terrapins defeated the Irish, 7-3, in the first round of last season's NCAA Championship.
Notre Dame last made the national semifinals in 2001 when the Irish fell to Syracuse, 12-5, in Piscataway, N.J.
"What a journey this has been," said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. "To lose six games after going undefeated last year we were very fortunate to even get to play in the (NCAA) tournament. I'm so proud of our guys because we prepared ourselves to be in the tournament. We prepared ourselves for being in the tournament and whether we got in or not wasn't up to us. Working the last month and getting prepared was up to us. I couldn't be more proud of the way the guys did that."
The Irish will face the winner of Sunday's quarterfinal contest between Army and Cornell in the NCAA Championship semifinals on Saturday, May 29 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md. Game time will either be 4:00 p.m. (ET) or 6:30 p.m. Both semifinal games can be seen live on ESPN2 HD.
May 22, 2010 – Princeton Stadium – Princeton, N.J.
NCAA Championship Quarterfinals
#14 Notre Dame (9-6) – 4 1 2 0 – 7
#3 Maryland (12-4) – 1 2 1 1 – 5
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Sean Rogers 3-0, Nicholas Beattie 1-0, Grant Krebs 1-0, Max Pfeifer 1-0, David Earl 1-0, Neal Hicks 0-1, Zach Brenneman 0-1, Mike Creighton 0-1; Goaltender: Scott Rodgers (W, 60:00, 8 saves, 5 GA)
Maryland Scoring (goals-assists):
Travis Reed 1-1, Jake Bernhardt 1-0, Joe Cummings 1-0, Scott Larue 1-0, John Haus 1-0, Will Yeatman 0-1, Ryan Young 0-1; Goaltenders: Brian Phipps (L, 58:22, 13 saves, 7 GA); Mark White (1:38, 0 saves, 0 GA)


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Note: This post was updated on October 4, 2009.
My post "Divided Loyalties" inspired an anonymous reader to make available an intriguing souvenir of the Biafran independence struggle. First Independence Anniversary Special, a 45, was issued in 1968 by the Biafra Association in the Americas, Inc. under the reference number XB-439/XB-440. The A side is "A Nation is Born," a previously-unknown-to-me song by highlife master Celestine Ukwu, while the flip side is the song "God Bless Colonel Ojukwu" by Rex Lawson, which I featured in that earlier post under the title "Odumegwu Ojukwu (Hail Biafra)."
Anonymous poses an interesting question: While First Independence Anniversary Special was obviously pressed in the United States, were records pressed in Biafra during the war? I do know that music by Ukwu and other musicians was recorded and broadcast on Radio Biafra during the conflict, but I'm not aware of any record-pressing facilities in Biafra at the time. Of course, there is always the possibility that records were pressed abroad and smuggled into the Biafran enclave, a fraught task. Could someone shed some light on this matter for us?
Courtesy of Anonymous, here is Celestine Ukwu:
Celestine Ukwu - A Nation is Born
For some time I've been trying to get hold of another record released in the US during the war, Igba na Egwu Ndi Biafra Ji na Anu Agha: Drums and Chants of Fighting Biafra (Afro Request SRLP 5030) by the mysterious "Biafran Freedom Fighters." If anyone out there has a copy, I'm sure we'd all love to hear it.
I have an LP which was apparently put out by the same people who issued First Independence Anniversary Special. This is Biafra (Biafra Students Association in the Americas XB-149/XB-150) features an instrumental, "Hail Biafra" (the Biafran national anthem?) and a speech by Odumegwu Ojukwu on Side 1, and seven musical selections on Side 2. Unfortunately, while the song titles are given, the artists aren't credited.
I'm posting the contents of This is Biafra. "Hail Biafra" is not especially notable and the Ojukwu speech is more of a historical document, but the other tracks should be of interest to Likembe reader/listeners. I have identified "Onwu Zuri Uwa" and "So Ala Temen" as by Rex Lawson. "A Tit for Tat" is by Area Scatter, and "Onye Nwe Uwa" is by the Nkwa Wu Ite Dance Group of Afikpo (thanks to Anonymous & Vitus Jon Laurence for identifying those two). Perhaps someone could identify the other musicians:
Hail Biafra
The Struggle for Survival: H.E. Lt. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, Governor of Biafra (November 24, 1967)
Cardinal Rex Lawson - Onwu Zuru Uwa (There's Death Everywhere)
Unknown Artists - Nkponam Isuhoke Owo (Misfortune Never Discriminates)
Nkwa Wu Ite Dance Group of Afikpo - Onye Nwe Uwa (Who Owns the World?)
Cardinal Rex Lawson - So Ala Temen (Nature Bestows Riches)
Area Scatter - A Tit for Tat
Unknown Artists - Akpasak Ibok, Idiok Udono (Vice is a Terrible Disease)
Unknown Artists - Thou Shalt Not Kill
I've written about the Biafran situation in previous posts, and I would recommend John de St. Jorre's The Nigerian Civil War (Hodder & Stoughton, 1972), long out of print, as an even-handed and detailed account of the conflict. This article from Wikipedia is also useful. I would say at the risk of sparking a controversy that I think the Biafran cause was a noble one, and had it succeeded, would have changed the course of African history in a positive direction. But I'm afraid Biafra's historical moment has come and gone; whatever the future of Africa has in store, an independent Biafran state will probably not be part of it.
Download This is Biafra as a zipped file here.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Hailing Biafra
Posted by John B. at 8:04 AM 13 comments
Labels: Area Scatter, Biafra, Celestine Ukwu, Efik, Highlife, Ibibio, Igbo, Ijaw, Nigeria, Nkwa Wu Ite Dance Group of Afikpo, Odemegwu Ojukwu, Rex Lawson
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Liberty competes in its first two BRAWL X tournaments
February 5, 2014 | Lynchburg, Va.
The Flames and Lady Flames competed at two Blue Ridge Area Winter League (BRAWL) X events and had some of the top scorers in the open, ladies, and amateur standings.
"The team is playing very well," Liberty Head Coach Steve Bowman said. "These tournaments are great to get them ready for the bulk of our season — the Flamethrower (March 8-9 on Liberty's Disc Golf Course) and the National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships (in early April in North Augusta, S.C.)"
At the Jan. 18 Sontag Disc Golf Course in Rocky Mount, Va., the third of eight BRAWL X events, Joses Merat finished tied for ninth in the open division with scores of 69 and 63 for a 132 total. His wife, Mary, placed first among ladies just three strokes back (69-66-135).
Liberty senior Devin Swartz tied for 14th in the open division with his 73-63-136 and junior Lance Brown finished 16th at 71-67-138. Among the amateurs, Junior Justin Towns placed seventh with his 79-65-144 totals.
The Flames traveled to Walnut Creek Disc Golf Course near Charlottesville for the Jan. 25 event No. 4. Liberty seniors Luke Laubscher and Jared Lebo tied for seventh in the amateur standings with identical 55-65-119 totals.
Joses Merat placed fifth in the open competition with his rounds of 51-62-113 while Mary Merat again won the ladies division with scores of 66-68-134. Lady Flames senior Melissa Truman (72-77-149) and junior Hannah Croke (74-77-151) finished second and third, respectively.
Complete results and standings through four events are posted online.
Liberty will next travel to BRAWL X events No. 5 at Big Branch in Bedford this Saturday and No. 6 at Elk Creek in Appomattox on Feb. 15.
"We like these environments where they have tournament pressure, good competition, and get a feel for the pace of the rounds to prep us for the months to come," Bowman said. "Even though we haven't had big signature wins, it has showed us who is focused and ready to compete."


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Before there was a super committee, there was Simpson-Bowles.
The co-chairmen of what was officially known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform told CNBC Tuesday the economic problems the 12-member congressional panel must work at haven't changed.
"It's very simple. If you spend more than you earn, you lose your butt," said former Wyoming Republican senator Alan Simpson, scheduled to speak to the super committee with former Clinton chief of staff Erskine Bowles on Tuesday.
"The American people know the fiscal path that Washington is on is not sustainable. These deficits are like a cancer. They're going to destroy the country from within," Bowles added.
The super committee is mandated by law to finish before November 23 a plan that reduces the U.S. deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years or automatic across-the-board budget cuts will be implemented.
The Simpson-Bowles committee's draft recommendations on reforming the tax code, cutting entitlement spending and other measures to bring down the deficit were never formally approved after 10 months of study in 2010.
Bowles reiterated that "we've got to bring those costs down. You know, our problems are real. None of the solutions are easy, but we've got to stand up to them...and do it now."
Simpson said the idea of spending more on such things as infrastructure now with deeper cuts down the road was something Simpson-Bowles recommended in its draft report.
"We said, we're here to talk about a fragile recovery. We don't want to hurt that," he said. "We want to take care of infrastructure, research and development, all the things we need to do and it's all there" in the Simpson-Bowles draft.


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25.01.2013 19:36
Digital Broadcasting
press RELEASE
Tbilisi/Luxembourg, January 24th, 2013 - SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced today that Georgian mobile and telecommunication company MagtiCom signed an agreement for a fourth transponder at the ASTRA 31.5 degrees East orbital position after the first year of operations of MagtiSat, Georgia's first domestic direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platform.
MagtiSat will utilise the four SES transponders to offer up to 100 popular Georgian and foreign digital TV channels, including high-definition (HD) channels, to its 40,000 customers throughout the country. The operator is broadcasting in DVB-S2 standard and MPEG-4 encoding.
The 31.5 degrees East orbital position offers excellent growth opportunities for broadcasters in Central Eastern Europe and can accommodate the rising demand for SD and HD services in the region.
Lars P. Reichelt, General Director for MagtiCom, said, "Our goal is to provide Georgian customers with world-class satellite TV across the country. MagtiSat is now firmly entrenched in the TV landscape of Georgia and we are delighted by the excellent customer feedback. MagtiSat has helped accelerate Georgia's switchover to digital TV broadcasting."
"We would like to congratulate our partner MagtiCom on setting the benchmark for DTH business in the region in its successful first year of operations," said Norbert Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Commercial, Europe, for SES. "MagtiCom's expertise in delivering telecom solutions and SES' wealth of knowledge in providing excellent satellite TV signals have proven to be vital in enabling TV audiences across Georgia to enjoy high-quality satellite television channels. We will capitalise on these strengths and continue to deliver more channels to the region in the coming years."
About SES
SES is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of 52 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organizations worldwide. SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the broadcasting industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements. SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) holds participations in Ciel in Canada and QuetzSat in Mexico, as well as a strategic participation in satellite infrastructure start-up O3b Networks. Further information under: www.ses.com.
Article provided by satellite operator SES


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HOUSTON (AP) The Houston Texans need a win this weekend at Indianapolis to secure a bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
They also want to build some momentum instead of limping into the postseason despite their 12-3 record. Houston had a chance to secure home-field advantage last week, only to post its worst offensive performance of the season in a 23-6 loss to the Vikings.
``It's not important, it's crucial, because in order for you to get to where you want to be, you have to be playing your best ball,'' veteran linebacker Bradie James said. ``And that's what we've been working on this week. Guys have been frowning during the holiday time. So that means we should respond well.''
They now have to win at Indianapolis, where the Texans are 0-10. The Colts, who went 2-14 last season, are 10-5 this season and have already secured a playoff spot.
``This is like a playoff game for us,'' quarterback Matt Schaub said. ``This is a team that is in the playoff themselves and we're in their building. With all that we can gain from playing well and getting a win on the road, it's definitely a playoff-type game.''
Schaub and the offense should get a lift from the return of running back Arian Foster, who missed most of the second half of Sunday's game because of an irregular heartbeat in a game in which Houston rushed for a season-low 34 yards. He has practiced all week and coach Gary Kubiak said he will play Sunday.
He said since it had happened to him before, the medical staff knew exactly how to handle it on Sunday.
``Anytime something like that happens that's unusual, so it concerns you,'' Kubiak said. ``At least it's something that they had a little history with and they could deal with.''
This is Houston's second meeting with the Colts in the last three weeks. Houston's only win in the last three games came in a 29-17 victory over the Colts two weeks ago.
``I think that's the biggest thing is to get the confidence,'' offensive coordinator Rick Dennison said. ``We have a very confident team when we get things going in the right way. I think we will. I think our guys will respond.''
Though much of the focus this week has been on the poor play of the offense, the defense is also looking to get better in its last game before the postseason. Defensive end J.J. Watt liked how the unit played in the first meeting against the Colts, but hasn't been happy with its performance in other recent games.
He has already set a franchise record with 20 1/2 sacks, leaving him 2 1/2 shy of breaking Michael Strahan's single-season sack record.
``It's on my mind,'' Watt said of the sack mark, ``but winning is No. 1 by far. I had someone ask me (Tuesday), would you rather win the game or get the sack record? There is no debate whatsoever. I'd much rather win the game, but then I said I would love to win the game and get the sack record.''
Watt had 10 tackles, including three sacks and forced a fumble, in Houston's first game against Indianapolis.
Kubiak said it's a big week for his veterans to step up and help get the team headed back in the right direction. He doesn't really have to say anything to those players because they know what needs to be done.
After making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season, Kubiak is looking for his team to do more this year.
``There's another level that you play the game at,'' Kubiak said. ``There's another level of expectations. There's another level of responsibility, and that's why you see a lot of the same people in the playoffs all the time ... because they find ways to raise that level. To me that's the next step for this organization.''
NOTES: Tight end Owen Daniels sat out of practice on Thursday with a sore hamstring, but Kubiak said he should be OK for Sunday. ... LB Brooks Reed, who returned last week after missing three games with a groin injury, is doing well this week and Kubiak said he expects him to play more than he did against the Vikings.
Online:http://pro32.ap.org/poll andhttp://twitter.com/AP-NFL


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Adults telling kids who they are, and kids wondering — are they right?
What it's like to be momentarily big on the small screen.
Stories of people shaking off their fear and doing what they've been scared to do.
People figuring out how to move through a world in which something important has disappeared.
Stories of very small injustices and also one very big one.
People connecting the dots that maybe should not be connected.
Stories from the upside-down world where conspiracy theorists dwell.
The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee try out their new powers for the first time.
People tossing words out into the world impulsively, to ignite and burn over decades.
Intimate and personal dispatches from two very different battlefields.
Satan! In his many surprising manifestations, all around us.
Revisiting those moments of calm before the storm.
Stories of people who roam the stacks and find unexpected things that just happen to be exactly what they required.
Ira on what he loves most about this weirdly insightful bot that generates inspirational messages.
Documents you don't normally think of, showing you things you didn't expect.
Stories of people who believe there is always a way. And also those who don't.
Stories of women in unsettling situations, who are told that there's nothing unsettling at all.
Stories of people who tell a lie and then believe the lie more than anyone else does.
It's been thrilling to come across YouTube videos of high schools staging the show.
People taking what they've learned from school shootings and try to use that knowledge to save others.
Zoe Chace followed Senator Jeff Flake as he decided to force the Senate to delay its vote on Judge Kavanaugh.
"To hear it out of the detectives' mouths, the complete disrespect...gut-wrenching."
A bunch of teenagers go missing from a town in Long Island.
The quiet bureaucratic war that's even targeting legal immigrants.
What happens when an astronaut who's not really into outer space goes to the moon.
Made using some of the rarest feathers in the world.
A flute player steals a million dollars worth of dead birds.
Every crime scene hides a story.
Dispatches from a government agency in its tumultuous teenage years.
A young preacher opens a new church.
Radical change comes to an Argentinian talk show.
In the final weeks of the primary election in New York 19th, Jeff Beals is devoting almost all of his time to canvassing.
Before Democrats slug it out with Republicans, they're slugging out with each other.
People trying to learn something when no one is clear what the lesson is supposed to be.
A security guard at the airport notices something going wrong on the tarmac, and takes it upon herself to fix it.
Graeme told us in the interview that he'd often wondered if you could calculate how fast the brick would have been going as it whizzed past his head. Here's the problem. Do you know the solution?
The clues people find when trying to make sense of a death.
Ira Glass talks to the graduating journalists about the challenges they and all journalists face these days, with fewer people believing fact-based reporting.
Conservative students don't feel like their ideas are welcome on campus. So they're fighting back.
Stories about people who accidentally bump into unsettling facts of history.
The screenwriter Marcus Hinchey, who spent hundreds of hours talking to Bishop Pearson, chose favorite videos of him.
The film tells the real-life story of Carlton Pearson, who was a rising star in the Pentecostal church and Oral Roberts's protégé.
People having to make a choice, when no good options exist.
Before he leaves the Senate for good, Republican Jeff Flake is trying to get a bill passed.
Footage of people rushing the fences in Melilla had appeared in Donald Trump's first TV ad when he was running for president.
Stories from border walls all over the world, and of the strange ecosystems that arise around them.
We commissioned an original cover of "9 to 5," by Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards. Producers Chana and Robyn talk about how the song came to be.
Once a wall is built, it becomes a fact on the landscape that can totally change the logic of the world around it. In the episode "The Walls," we have stories about people at walls all over the globe. Fly around to visit the walls in each story.


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A survey of the networking priorities of 130 hospitals found that about 85% support the use of personal devices like iPads, Blackberries and Android smartphones at work.
The survey, performed by Aruba Networks , focused mainly on network issues and showed varying levels of access to business apps through employees' devices.
Of the 85% who indicated they support physician and staff use of personal devices at work, 53% said that the workers are currently relegated to Internet access only, while 24% provide limited access to hospital applications.
Only 8% currently enable full access to the hospital network from user-owned devices, the survey showed.
Seventy-six percent of respondents said they provide Internet access to patients and visitors, with 58% doing so through open networks without password protection. Seventy-five percent also noted that their hospital applications are available remotely to clinics, physicians and others.
In November, research firm IDC Health Insights conducted its own survey of 50 healthcare CIOs -- 25 in the U.S. and 25 in Western Europe. The results were similar to those found by Aruba Networks.
In the IDC survey, 40% said staff could connect into the hospital's production network with their own devices, 24% allow physicians to use their own device but only to access the Internet, 12% said staff could use a personal device but not connect to any network and 4% allow no personal devices.
"Certain bring-your-own-device strategies present certain security risks: the introduction of mobile malware onto a hospital network, for example," said Lynne Dunbrack, IDC Health Insights program director.
The top concern among security risks is that a device might be lost or stolen, which forces CIOs to determine the level of their security policies. "Do you wipe the entire device, or do you partition it so that you only wipe the sensitive data on that device?" Dunbrack said.
Aruba's survey also indicated that electronic medical records (EMR) applications are far and away the most-often supported applications on mobile devices, with 60% of respondents indicating that's what they were allowing employees to connect to through their devices. EMRs were followed by PACS (picture archiving and communication systems), Secure Messaging, and Voice over IP (VoIP), each in the 30% range.
"BYOD has really become an increasing issue for us in the past year," Bryan Safrit, a senior network architect for Rex Healthcare in North Carolina, said in a statement. "Much more of the traffic we see is from iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Without the ability to differentiate users and enforce policies, our BYOD traffic could overwhelm our bandwidth."
An overwhelming majority of the respondents to the Aruba survey indicated they support the use of Apple iPads and iPhones; Blackberries were also more popular than Android smart phones.
iPads were supported by 83% of those surveyed; 65% said they support iPhones and iPod touches.
Fifty-two percent support Blackberry devices, while only 46% said the same for Android-based devices.
IDC's November survey also showed iOS devices were the most highly supported (31.8%), followed by Blackberries (27.3%), Windows phones (11.4%), Android OS devices (9.1%), Symbian OS 4.5%, and others 2.3%. The remaining 13.6% of those surveyed by IDC said they had no preferred mobile platform.
Desktop virtualization was also highly touted as a supporting technology for BYOD infrastructures. In the Aruba survey, 58% said that they currently use or plan to use desktop virtualization solutions such as Citrix to enable hospital application use on iPads; 45% said they would use in-house or third-party applications.
Ninety-three percent of respondents said they run their own network infrastructure, as opposed to outsourcing it to a network service provider
The survey revealed that 50% of respondents plan to expand or refresh their Wi-Fi infrastructure over the next year; while 35% said the same for their wired networks.
According to IDC, during the next 24 months, the top apps on mobile devices in healthcare are going to be EMRs/ePrescribing, Lab diagnostic test results, medical image retrieval/nursing documentation, physician documentation/medication administration and drug database access.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com .
See more by Lucas Mearian on Computerworld.com .
Read more about health care in Computerworld's Health Care Topic Center.


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Man, 20, charged in Laurel stabbing death
Howard County police have charged a 20-year-old Laurel man in a stabbing death at a mobile home park.
Police were called around 7:15 p.m. Thursday to a report of an assault in the 10000 block of North 2nd Street, where they found Robert Foster, 46, of Savage, with a stab wound lying near the entrance to the Midway mobile home park.
Foster was taken to Laurel Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said witnesses identified Robert Tasker, 20, as the person who stabbed Foster after the two had gotten into an argument.
Tasker was charged Thursday night with homicide, manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment and carrying a concealed dangerous weapon.
Police said they're still trying to determine what the men were fighting about.


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NBCUNIVERSAL AND VERIZON OFFER TV EVERYWHERE RIGHTS FOR TOP SPORTS, NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMMING TO VERIZON FiOS TV CUSTOMERS BEGINNING EARLY NEXT YEAR
Comprehensive Content Affiliation Agreement Covers Retransmission Consent for NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations and Includes Rights to Air Olympic Games
NEW YORK - November 26, 2012 - NBCUniversal and Verizon today announced a wide-ranging agreement for Verizon FiOS TV customers to be able to watch the entire portfolio of top-rated broadcast and cable networks of NBCUniversal live and on-demand via multiple platforms, both in and out of the home, beginning early next year. To access the online programming, Verizon customers must subscribe to FiOS TV.
The TV Everywhere rights for the networks of NBCUniversal are part of a broader agreement for Verizon FiOS TV customers, which also includes the full suite of top-rated cable networks from NBCUniversal: USA, Bravo Media, cloo, Chiller, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, mun2, NBC Sports Network, Oxygen Media, Style Media, Syfy, Telemundo Media and Golf Channel, as well as retransmission consent for local NBC and Telemundo owned stations. In addition, the long-term agreement includes expansive rights to carry the Olympic Games as well as carriage of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, Comcast SportsNet Mid Atlantic, The Comcast Network-Philadelphia and Comcast SportsNet New England.
"This comprehensive agreement benefits our viewers and Verizon's FiOS TV customers by making programming available across NBCUniversal's vast content portfolio wherever the viewer goes on any device," said Matt Bond, Executive Vice President, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal. "Verizon clearly understands and appreciates the value our stations, cable and Olympics content delivers to their subscribers. We look forward to continuing our long standing and mutually beneficial partnership and working closely together to develop new and innovative ways to engage subscribers."
"As Verizon continues to expand our suite of programming across multiple devices, it's imperative that we offer our FiOS TV customers access to all that NBCUniversal has to offer," said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. "We look forward to continuing our relationship with NBCUniversal and growing our TV offering with anytime, anywhere access to their suite of programming."
About NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. Comcast Corporation owns a controlling 51 percent interest in NBCUniversal, with GE holding a 49 percent stake.
About Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with nearly 96 million retail customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500. A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 184,500. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.


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SEDRO-WOOLEY, Wash. — A convicted felon is on the run in wooded rural Washington after a 4-year-old boy died Sunday of a gunshot at his home.
The man, 25-year-old Trevor Braymiller, is considered armed and dangerous, Sedro-Woolley police Chief Doug Wood said.
"He's been in the area for quite some time," Wood said. "He's a convicted felon with a prior conviction for selling drugs," Wood said.
Initial reports Sunday morning said the boy had shot himself with a gun, Wood said, but after a medical examiner looked at the boy, it was determined that was not the case. Wood said investigators are treating the case as a homicide.
Braymiller is believed to be moving on foot, with officers from several law enforcement agencies chasing him. Wood described Braymiller as having "scruffy" facial hair and wearing a red or orange shirt.
Sedro-Woolley is a town of about 10,000 people 70 miles north of Seattle in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.
On Sunday afternoon, officers were focusing the search on the Big Lake area, just south of the town, Wood said.
Investigators believe Braymiller was not the boy's father, but rather a father figure.
The boy's mother was questioned and is now with her family. Another boy was also at the home at the time of the shooting, Wood said.
The home is well-known to officers in the area. In 2011, police conducted a drug raid there, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.
The boy was transported to Skagit Valley Hospital and was pronounced dead.


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| 5.7°C Belfast
Some of the damage from the recent floods could have been prevented if the correct water management techniques had been used, a group of experts has said.
In an open letter, the experts - representing 15 organisations including the Institution of Environmental Sciences, the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - urged David Cameron to convene a cross-departmental conference bringing together Whitehall departments, the Environment Agency and the professions to put in place measures to prevent a repeat of the current floods.
The call came as shadow chancellor Ed Balls pledged that i nvestment in flood defences would be a priority for an incoming Labour government.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Balls accused the coalition Government of "short-termist salami-slicing" of budgets for flood defences, and said that 300 "shovel-ready" schemes were shelved last year because of lack of funding.
The open letter, also published in the Telegraph, set out technical measures which could cut the risk of future floods, including the use of forestry and land management to hold back water in the upper reaches of rivers as well as dredging to ease problems in the lower reaches.
The experts said that sustainable drainage systems should be fitted on existing and new buildings and that buildings and land that cannot be properly protected should be made resilient to withstand flooding. All new housing on flood plains should be resilient when built, they said.
"While we are pleased to hear that the Prime Minister will provide leadership and funding, it is essential that government actions are based on best practice developed over many years," said the letter.
"Water management techniques could have helped prevent the effect of flooding on villages, towns and over surrounding land seen recently. Emergency measures are in order for the immediate crisis. But in the long term, the management of water requires a clear strategy."
The letter came a day after the Met Office confirmed that the UK has suffered its wettest winter in records dating back more than a century.
Figures for December 1 to February 19 show that the UK has had 486.8mm (19.2 inches) of rain, making it the wettest winter in records dating back to 1910, beating the previous record set in 1995 of 485.1mm (19.1 inches).
Two severe flood warnings remain in place in the Somerset Levels, which has been one of the worst-hit areas this winter, suffering prolonged flooding in the face of repeated storms and heavy rain.
Across the rest of southern and central England, the risk of flooding is receding as river levels fall, including along the Thames and Severn, the Environment Agency said.
But properties in areas including Windsor and Maidenhead, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Wokingham and West Berkshire could remain flooded for some time.
And with more unsettled weather on the way, the risk of flooding will be slow to disappear, the Environment Agency warned.
There are 70 flood warnings, and 119 less serious flood alerts currently in place across England and Wales. Groundwater is continuing to rise, with continuing flooding in parts of Greater London, Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset.
Mr Balls said that a review carried out for Labour by Olympic supremo Sir John Armitt had identified the construction of flood defences which can cope with the potential effects of climate change as "a national priority".
Sir John will soon publish draft legislation to create an independent National Infrastructure Commission to identify the UK's long-term infrastructure needs and hold governments of all political colours to account for delivering them.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Balls said: "Of course, if Labour wins the next election, there will need to be spending cuts. There will be a big deficit still to be brought down after the global financial crisis and the Chancellor (George Osborne) is set to break his promise to balance the books by 2015.
"But how we make those cuts is vital. Our zero-based review of public spending - a root-and-branch review of every pound spent by government from the bottom up - is clear that we must eliminate waste and inefficiencies, but also prioritise preventative spending that can save money in the long term.
"There can be few better examples than investment in flood defences."
Spending on defences was boosted after the 2007 floods, but the coalition Government then cut it by 17% in real terms in 2010, said Mr Balls.
"Even after announcements in recent weeks, the House of Commons Library says that Government spending on flood defences is lower in real terms during this spending review period than the last one," he said.
"Meanwhile, there were over 300 shovel-ready flood-defence projects last year that could have been built but weren't due to lack of funding."
Citing a recent warning from the Committee on Climate Change that investment in flood defences was £500 million below what was needed and that this risked £3 billion in avoidable flood damage, Mr Balls said: "How can this make economic sense? Rather than the short-termist salami-slicing of budgets we have seen, we need instead to make long-term decisions now that can save money in the future.
"Next month's Budget must begin to set out that action, and I am also clear that investment in flood defences - preventative spending that can save money in the long-run - must and will be a priority for the next Labour government."


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Rays' Bell likes idea of pitching for a contender
Former closer lands with Tampa Bay after ups and downs with Miami, Arizona
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Heath Bell has spent the last few years bouncing back and forth from coast to coast like a ping pong ball: from San Diego to Miami to Arizona and now to Tampa Bay.
"You'd think you'd sign a three-year deal and you'd stay in one place and not bounce around, but it's all right," the one-time right-handed closer told MLB.com on Friday in his new digs with the Rays at the Charlotte Sports Park. "Unfortunately I've been traded the last two years, but I keep going to better and better teams. The Rays are always in the playoffs so it's not a bad thing."
Bell left the Padres for the Marlins as a free agent after the 2011 season and signed that three-year contract worth $27 million with a $9 million vesting option for 2015. Bell earned that deal by saving 132 games for the Padres in the three seasons after Trevor Hoffman left for Milwaukee in a huff because of a contract dispute.
Bell struggled for the Marlins and the D-backs and hasn't regularly closed since his San Diego salad days. He said he's not sure what his role will be with the Rays, although evidently Tampa Bay hardly signed free-agent Grant Balfour to a two-year, $12 million deal for moral support.
"I expect to close," said Balfour, who did just that for the A's, saving 104 games the past three seasons, including 38 for the repeat American League West division champions last year. "At least I hope so. That's why I signed here."
Any doubt?
"I've already declared that Balfour is the closer, so I'm getting that off the table," Rays manager Joe Maddon added unequivocally on Friday.
Here's a thumbnail of Bell's recent history:
He was going nowhere with the Mets when then Padres general manager Kevin Towers acquired him via a low-level trade in 2006. Bell developed in San Diego setting up for Hoffman and under the tutelage of the reliever with 601 lifetime saves. Manager Bud Black and pitching coach Darren Balsley created a strong support system for the entire pitching staff and Bell thrived.
After his move to Miami in 2012, Bell had mechanical issues closing for the Marlins. He had 19 saves for Miami, blew another eight and by midseason was summarily benched by then manager Ozzie Guillen. Bell was told to fend for himself. When that didn't work and after the highly-touted Marlins imploded in their new ballpark that season, an economic purge began and Bell's contract was traded to the D-backs, with the Marlins accounting for half of the money.
Towers, who basically invented Bell, was now Arizona's GM and he projected Bell as a viable option to incumbent closer J.J. Putz, who never seems to make it through a full season without injury. When Putz went on the disabled list early in 2013 because of a right elbow strain, Bell stepped into the breach and saved 13 games in 15 opportunities through May and June, thus stabilizing what turned out to be one of the worst bullpens in Major League Baseball.
But Bell pitched erratically after that and saved only two more games for the remainder of the season. After blowing four out of five second-half opportunities, he was used only eight times in various setup situations during the final month of the season as Brad Ziegler enjoyed some success closing.
And so it didn't really surprise Bell when he was traded this past Dec. 13 to Tampa Bay in a three-team deal that included the Reds and netted the D-backs a pair of Minor League players.
"I was a little surprised, but not too much because in September they stopped using me," Bell said. "It wasn't because they just wanted to use the kids. They were using me in the eighth inning and then all of a sudden I was pitching in really weird innings. I think the Rays were just interested in picking me up and K.T. [Towers] always says if there's a good deal out there he'll make a trade. It doesn't matter who it will be. Maybe I just didn't fit in their plans."
Evidently. Like several of the pitchers on the Arizona staff last year, Bell struggled to stay on the same page with manager Kirk Gibson and then pitching coach Charles Nagy, who was dismissed at the end of the season and replaced by Mike Harkey of the Yankees. Veteran guru Dave Duncan also was hired to oversee pitching in the entire D-backs system.
"My pitching style is a little different than most pitchers and most closers," Bell said. "I wanted to go out there and pitch my style. We didn't really see eye to eye after awhile. I always felt like I was trying to swim upstream. I try to mix up my pitches. Closers usually come in and pound the strike zone with fastballs. I have a good fastball, but not one that I can just blow by anybody.
"I like to go in and out, use both sides of the plate. I felt like they wanted me to go in a lot more. My style was more away, but I was trying to do their style. It was just tough. When the catcher and the pitcher really don't see eye to eye it's hard to go out there and have a really good game. They wanted me to pitch in a way I'd never pitched before."
All that is behind him now. But Bell, at 36, is undoubtedly on the cusp. The way the contract was structured by the Marlins, he earned $6 million in 2012 and $9 million in 2013 and now also in 2014. The $9 million option automatically vests if he finishes 55 games this season or 100 over the past two seasons. Bell finished only 32 games in 2013 so the 55-game figure this season is the target. If he doesn't close, there's little chance he'll reach that mark.
"Bell is interesting," Maddon said. "Right now he looks great. He's very motivated. What we'd like to do is set up pitchers in those higher leverage moments at the latter part of the game. We have several now and with that a chance to shorten up the game nicely. So the plans are to use him in the latter part of the game. The plans are to use him against the right guys."
That's just fine with Bell. At this point, he'll take whatever chance he's given. He's a San Diego native, whose family remains out west for most of the season. And although he harbors a desire to return to the Padres, he wouldn't mind finishing his career with the Rays, who once selected Bell out of high school in the 69th round of the 1997 First-Year Player Draft. Bell didn't sign, but he finally made it to Tampa to play his 11th big league season.
"Would I love to go back to San Diego? I would, but I'm with the Rays now," Bell said. "If I finish my career here in the next couple of years that would be awesome, too. You've got to love this organization. From the first day I walked in everyone was happy and smiling. It's a great clubhouse and you never want to leave a great clubhouse. Even if I live on the other side of the country in California, I'll be glad to make the drive to Florida every year."


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Yanagisawa AWO10 Alto Saxophone - Gold Lacquer
0% Finance
10% deposit of £291.00
9 monthly payments of £291.00
Interest free finance
24 month finance 4.9 APR
10% deposit of £291.00
24 monthly payments of £114.66
Finance charges apply
A wonderful instrument that will satisfy any professional player.
The upgraded replacement for the A991 series, this AWO10 brass model is one of the World's finest alto saxophones.
Yanagisawa saxes are made by a small family company in Japan who only make professional quality saxes, and they do it very well. This degree of focus means they are of a quality that even their main competitors recognise as the best. Here at Sax.co our technicians love them as they play straight out of the box and they are by far the most reliable instruments we sell.
The Yanagisawa A991 developed a reputation over the past 30 years as a serious choice for advancing students and discerning professionals playing all styles of music. It's replacement, the AWO10 is even better! Over and above the less expensive AW01 model, the AW010 has double key arms, a fully ribbed construction and an underslung octave mechanism.
The AWO10 has an even stronger tonal core thanks to a re-engineered bore and tone holes, plus many upgraded feature such as:
Front F Key
A new redesigned front F key for a better feel.
Right Side Key
Additional feet under the right side key levers (B, C and high E) for a better touch.
Right Pinky Key
New pinky key angle for smoother fingering.
New Engraving
Exquisite new hand engraving.
New Neck Plate
An additional neck plate for tightening the sound.
Palm Key plate
New palm key plate for added high range resonance, acoustic depth and projection across all register, and exceptional tonal stability.
Teflon octave system
Both ends of the octave key axis rotate in a receptacle that is coated with teflon to insure a smooth operation every time
Rocking table mechanism
The C# and Bb keys have a rocking table mechanism that allows for optimal speed and fluidity between these pitches
F-auxiliary key mechanism
Insures a proper seal of the pads when playing in the low range of the saxophone
"Indented" white shell keys
A player's fingers will rest comfortably in the indented white shell keys. The white shells also enhance the beauty of the instrument while also preventing the player's fingers from slipping during technical passages
Pointed pivot screw
The pivot screws that are used have a pointed end which facilitates an accurate center and precise action
Air-tight waterproof pad
The pads are completely air-tight which supports stability in playing and their life is extended thanks to being waterproof
Blue steel springs
Blue steel springs give the player quick response and are more resilient than stainless steel (they also last much longer)
Tri-point balanced bell brace
The bell and the body of the saxophone are securely connected by a tri-point balanced bell brace
• Material: Brass
• Finish: Gold lacquered
• Key Touches: White mother of pearl
• Neck: Yanagisawa
• Engraving: Hand engraved
• Case: Yanagisawa, rectangular back-pack style
• Mouthpiece: Yanagisawa Ebonite 7CR
• Made in: Japan
• 9 Month Interest Free Finance Available on this Product
• Free Professional Set Up & Free Check over within a Year
• Recommended for: All serious sax players
Yanagisawa have managed to raise the quality of their instruments another notch, with the introduction of the WO series.
The sound delivery of any Yani horn has always been one of richness and smoothness, while remaining free blowing throughout. This quality remains in place on the WO horns but there is an extra degree of warmth and just a little extra focus over and above the old brass models. I'm sure this must be largely due to the change of brass on the AW01 and AW010 models.
As for the bronze models, there is less of a discernable difference tonally but ergonomically all of the range has benefited from tweaks within the mechanism and key-work. These are lovely new horns. Jim (Sax.co.uk)
Free Professional Setup
All of our instruments are fully checked and set-up by our experienced technicians. Regardless of size or price - all saxophones go through the same process. Here at Sax.co.uk we know that when you buy a sax, our pro set up is absolutley essential to ensure the instrument you're purchasing is playing to it's optimum peformance.
In addition, all new saxophones purchased from us can be returned within a year for a FREE checkover to make sure your saxophone continues to perform its best.
Our 12-Step Checkover:
• All transit packing and corks from the manufacturer are removed.
• Thorough visual check for any imperfections in the finish, includes unlacquered saxophones.
• All pads checked for quality.
• All pad seatings checked using leak lights and traditional feeler paper methods.
• Regulation checked and adjusted.
• All key corks and felts checked, adjusted to set vent heights.
• All spring tensions checked and adjusted to create an even feel across the instrument.
• Neck fitting checked.
• Crook cork checked for cork quality and provided mouthpiece fits.
• Thorough playtest from top to bottom, including alternate fingerings.
• Case inspected for quality, instrument fit and accessories.
• Instrument cleaned and carefully repacked.
- Free 1st Class Delivery on all orders over £75 to UK MAINLAND
- Free Next Working day Delivery on all Saxophones to UK MAINLAND (excluding hire saxophones)
- Competitive International Shipping Rates
Delivery Schedule
Orders received before 2pm are normally shipped the same day. International orders are generally received in under 7 days.
We have a massive selection of goods, although If your item is not in stock, we will back order it for you. You will always be emailed with the option to choose an alternative or cancel your order if you would rather not wait.
Postage Prices Outside of the UK
Simply add your desired products to the shopping cart, choose your shipping destination and the website will automatically assign your postage to the shopping cart.
UK Shipping Guide
Listed below is a guide to our UK Mainland shipping charges.
|Royal Mail 1st Class
|Special Next Day
|Special Next Day (by 12pm)
|Heavy Items
Postage Within The UK
Royal Mail First Class (Default Shipping)
First Class Delivery aims to deliver within 1 to 3 days of postage but do bear in mind larger items are likely to need hand delivery (sax stands don't fit through letter boxes).Royal Mail Special Delivery (Next Day)
If your order is placed before 2pm and is in stock we aim to deliver the following business day. If an Item is not in stock we will refund your additional postage costs and deliver as soon as the goods are available. Over 2kg we use a mixture of regular post (low value items such as bags and heavier stands) & various couriers (usually DPD or UPS) depending on location and value.
Postage Within The EU
Anything under 2kg ships with Royal Mail. Orders amounting to over about £50 ship using a signed for and, if necessary, insured postal service. Orders over 2kg ship with various courier services- again, usually UPS or Fedex.
Rest Of The World
Any order under 2kg ships in the regular mail (unless otherwise requested at time of ordering). Higher value shipments are sent using a signed for and, if necessary, insured postal service. Heavier items ship by courier - again, we tend to use UPS or Fedex. Please note that, should you want smaller orders by courier (an advisable security measure in some countries) please specify clearly when ordering. This will often incur a higher shipping price which we may have to cover by sending a paypal invoice.
For any order which has shipped with tracking: the full tracking information can be checked using the "my orders" section on our website (a link is on your initial order confirmation).
If you're based overseas and would like more information on shipping including customs duty, please read our Based Overseas guide located here.
If you wish to return products purchased on our website please follow the guidance below.
Goods purchased online from www.sax.co.uk can be returned within 14 days of receipt. This does not apply to products where hygiene is concerned and product seals have been broken (Reeds, mouthpieces etc). Goods purchased through our website cannot be returned to our retail stores.
Please print and complete returns document found here: Return Document and include it inside your package.
- You must obtain a receipt with tracking information from the Post Office or chosen courier service. This can be used to track the item(s) that you are returning. We cannot accept liability for returned goods that we don't receive or for those that get damaged in transit on their return.
- In all cases, (except where an item is faulty) the item(s) returned must be in its original and saleable condition. This includes all original packaging that must be undamaged and intact.
- All goods will be inspected on return. Where we have to make reductions in price to facilitate re-sale, you will be notified and the cost will be deducted from your refund.
- Goods are your responsibility until they reach our warehouse, so please ensure you package them up well to prevent any damage or loss during shipping.
- The initial postage and packaging charge is non refundable.
We aim process refunds 24 hours of receipt. If you do not see your original payment method credited within ten days please contact us.
Please send all returns to the following address:
If you have any difficulty or have any other queries regarding our returns policy, our customer services will be able to assist at email@example.com or 01892662533.


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Google Goes Cold on Hotpot, Shutters the Standalone App
Five months after launch, Google is folding Hotpot, its recommendation engine for places, into Google Places. The Hotpot product name is being discontinued, but the technology will remain a part of the Google Places experience on the web and in Google mobile apps.
In a way, Hotpot is still simmering inside Places, and Google hasn't gone completely cold on the idea of local recommendations. But a quick glance at a mobile Place Page will show that Hotpot's ratings and place discovery features are buried so far down that users will need to scroll to find them.
Google is positioning the restructuring as a graduation day for Hotpot.
"The [Hotpot] community has quickly expanded to millions of users who are rating more than one million times per month and enjoying a truly personalized view of the world," writes Hotpot product manager Lior Ron.
The change in direction, however, signifies internal disarray when it comes to Google's strategy around place discovery. It might even be related to Thursday's senior level shakeup, as Jeff Huber has just assumed the role of senior vice president of commerce and local.
The original idea behind Hotpot was to encourage users to rate and review venues and add friends so they could get personalized recommendations tailored to their tastes. To push users into leaving recommendations, Google released both iPhone and Android apps for Hotpot and expanded the product to support more than 47 languages.
"Rolling Hotpot into Google Places helps simplify the connection between the places that are rated and reviewed and the more than 50 million places that already have an online presence through Google Places — places that millions of people search for and find every day on Google," Ron writes in an effort to explain the decision.


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At first glance, the plastic-smooth and podlike LG Imprint for MetroPCS looks akin to the Kin One slider, though it's actually a twin to Sprint's LG Remarq, right down to the stylish leaf-shaped speaker punched into the phone's back cover and the Energy Star-rated charger. Interestingly, unlike the Remarq, MetroPCS isn't billing the Imprint as an eco-phone. For one, LG didn't build it with recycled plastic and it doesn't come in the Remarq's soy ink packaging.
With a full QWERTY keyboard and room to spread out, the Imprint matches its design strengths as a texting phone with SMS and MMS capabilities. While its camera is mediocre, its onboard MP3 player and strong call quality make the $109 LG Imprint a sturdy and comfortable handset for texters and e-mailers at a price that won't break the bank.
The Imprint's design is easily the best thing about the phone. With generously rounded corners, the 3.5 inch long by 2.5 inch wide by 0.6 inch thick Imprint is a compact little number. Shiny and smooth, the 3.8-ounce phone feels hearty in the hand, but gentle on the ear, with a sturdy, tightly constructed slider. The square, strong phone is a pocket-friendly and purse-portable, and its girth will ensure it won't get lost among your keys and loose change.
LG paints the Imprint with a simple, but stylish brush. A silver band caps the face of the phone's glossy, black body, then cuts across 45 degrees to cloak half of the spine and most of the back cover.
The 2.2 inch, 320x240-pixel display supports 262,000 colors, though we wish MetroPCS took better advantage of the crisp and clear resolution with more interesting menus and default wallpaper. In our opinion, few displays prove victorious when contending with direct sunlight, and the Imprint is no exception. It helps that you can adjust the screen's backlight time, though not its brightness or contrast. Below the screen lies the navigation array--the ubiquitous four-directional pad with central OK button, two soft keys, and speakerphone and "back" buttons that double up with Talk and End functionality.
Slide the phone face up to reveal a roomy QWERTY keyboard with tall, narrow keys that are fully separated (we like this) and slightly domed surfaces. All it lacks are backlit keys. A dedicated messaging button on the keyboard fast tracks you to the texting window, and another button opens the music player.
On the phone's left spine is a camera button that flicks on the 1.3-megapixel shooter. Above it sits the Micro-USB slot. The right spine sports the volume rocker, the microSD card slot, and an unfortunately nonstandard 2.5mm headset jack--we prefer a standard 3.5mm jack.
The LG Imprint is socially inclined, with threaded text and multimedia messaging. Fittingly, its phone book stores 1,000 contacts, with room in each entry for seven phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, a photo ID, and a custom ringtone. You can also create caller groups. For ringtones, the Imprint ships with 33 polyphonic tunes. You can also give them all the kibosh and switch to a silent, stealth mode.


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The main page for this idea is Summer Coding 2010 ideas - Ink level reporting for printer drivers.
Status: Idea
Summary of idea: Several printer drivers are capable of reporting the amount of remaining ink or toner in the printer they are driving, but they all do it in different ways. Usually there is a command line program that the user has to know about and run (and interpret the output). For gutenprint there is escputil. For HPLIP there is hp-levels. And so on.
CUPS provides a unified framework for all drivers to report marker levels in the same way, viewed and queried from a single user interface. The same interface can be used for other "special" functions such as cleaning/aligning the print heads, printing a self-test page, etc. We just need the printer drivers to conform to this way of doing things.
Changing both gutenprint and hplip would be sufficient to cover a large number of printer models.
Contacts: Tim Waugh
Mentor(s): Tim Waugh


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Jamboree Pinsstevejb68 on July 31, 2013 in collections, Jamboree
I have noticed that when Scouts and adult leaders have written about what they collected at this year's National Jamboree it always seems to be about the patches. I will admit that patches are cool, and that I collect them myself, but there are plenty of other things to collect at the B.S.A.'s big event. One of those things is pins.
When I attended the 2001 National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, I was ready to collect patches. I was not prepared to collect pins. I do not know if many council troops brought pins along to trade this year but our troop in 2001 did have a pin to trade. Unfortunately, our pins were pretty tiny. I had several of them though and I was determined to get rid of them for other pins, or something else that might catch my eyes. Like more patches!
As you may notice from my collection, I did not do very well with the pin collection. I did collect various other pins though, including the collection of Garfield the Cub Scout pins and a few of the official 2001 Jamboree pins. Yep, I guess you could say I was not into collecting the pins very much. I think I still have two or three of my council's pins. Why are the the pins on a National Guard hat? Because the Guard was giving the hats away for free and it made for a great item to keep all the pins collected in one spot.
Did you collect pins at this year's Jamboree? How many did you come home with? Which ones are the ones you prize the most? Do you have pictures of them posted online somewhere? Let us know.


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Many decades ago when I had several years experience with photography, my goal was to have a huge collection of lenses for all purposes—fisheye, wide angle, super wide angle, zoom, ultra zoom, double ultra zoom, triple ultra zoom………
Although it might be nice to have all those lenses in today's world, I find that I am completely satisfied with my Tamron 28-300mm lens and Photoshop. Photoshop has so many cool features that allow me to simulate all those lenses so well that no one would know what I had done unless I told them.
A good example is this Photographic Art creation:
That is based on a picture of a mural in the Little Italy area of San Diego. Ah, but I lie to you. That is based on FOUR pictures of a mural in the Little Italy area of San Diego. It was a wide mural, so it would not fit in my camera considering I couldn't stand across the street because cars and utility poles would have been in the picture. I could have stood in the street, but it's a busy street, and I know what typically happens when a 200-pound human takes on a 4,000-pound car. My only choice, then, was to take four pictures while standing on the walkway, just three feet or so from the mural. Here are the four original pictures:
Along with the mismatch in color contrast, brightness, exposure, etc., you can see that the perspective is going to be weird, especially for the two end pictures. This pretty much tells you where I was standing in order to leave cars, people, and poles out of the picture—right between the two ladies if you can't tell.
First I corrected the perspective of the pictures, which gave me these four pictures:
Then I used Photoshop's Photomerge function to merge the four pictures into one picture, giving me this:
After that it was just a question of making it into Photographic Art.
The one question that Julian had is why does the woman who is sitting down have a mustache. The attire certainly leads to one believing that it is a woman… Do Italian women have mustaches? Inquiring minds want to know.
Do you have BWS?
I have the answer:
Visit Photographic Art by Russel Ray Photos at Fine Art America.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer, Realtor, CDPE
If you're looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that's me!


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It used to be the stuff of fantasy, what Hollywood scriptwriters and producers made their careers out of. Computers and robots, all gaining self-awareness, able to "learn" from and adapt to their environment. No longer dumb machines capable of merely following explicit orders, they gain intelligence and can actually think for themselves.
The movies are replete with such images. HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The machines from The Terminator. More recently, the human-looking beings from I, Robot. All of these machines became capable of making their own decisions without the input of their creators. Unfortunately, they all turned their newfound brainpower towards the purpose of destroying mankind. None succeeded, but the attempt was certainly frightening.
For many viewers of these cinema classics, one question arose in the back of their minds: Could this really happen? The answer: yes, but without the part about destroying mankind.
In fact, the creation of intelligent robots and computers with the power to learn and adapt to a changing environment is closer than many people realize. Research into this fascinating discipline has been ongoing for decades, and the development of an actual prototype is very much in the offing.
At the root of this once-unthinkable phenomenon is the dynamic transformation of the software industry.
Software History
If one looks at the trends in software starting in the early 1950s, this industry was out in front of the hardware community in terms of sophisticated conceptual development processes and technology. The software community, in fact, started what has been defined as the modern systems engineering approach long before the hardware community adopted it.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the software field progressed from basic language to FORTRAN. Then, in the 1980s and 1990s software, software became more of a driver of the devices of the day -- automobiles, dishwashers, microwaves all were equipped with microprocessor controls (the automobile is, essentially, a distributed computing environment).
At this time, software became a critical issue in many organizations; the majority of team leaders and program managers at the aerospace companies, automakers, even NASA, had come from the hardware environment; software to these people was almost an afterthought. Consequently, in most industries, software projects were increasingly outsourced to specialists.
However, software ultimately became a problem, not only because of the nature of code development and validation but due to the complexity of the programs necessary to drive the new, advanced devices. At NASA, we saw an abundance of errors in the lines of code we used. We were going from thousands to millions of lines of code. Plus, at the time, one individual would write single strings of code. Today, software in large, sophisticated systems isn't one continuous piece; it's written in sections by groups of programmers with interfaces defined to transfer all critical parameters from one section of software code to another.
In the early 1990s, despite the introduction of tools like Unified Modeling Language (UML) and integrated verification and validation techniques, the errors in software programming were more frequent -- and more costly -- due to the complexity of the programming. A case in point was the space vehicles that NASA was producing. Basically, the functionality and controllability of virtually all of the systems in these vehicles was becoming software-driven. However, the ramifications of faulty software were dramatically illustrated by the demise of one of the NASA Mars Polar Lander due to software errors, an incident which made worldwide headlines.
The point was clear: whether it was control theory, pointing telescopes, controlling automotive drive processes such as energy management and braking, or spacecraft operational management, there are unanticipated consequences in complex software-driven systems for which there is no adequate testing method.
Three-Sided Engineering
In the mid 1990s, NASA adopted a different approach. We looked at systems engineering as a sort of triangle: engineering on one leg and a combination of information technology and nanotechnology on a second leg. Then, we introduced biology on the third side to create synergy between them all. In many ways, it was the beginning of a new era: going from Newtonian mechanics to quantum physics to the principles of neurobiology. By starting to think in these terms, we began to view software not as being deterministic codes but rather as a flexible and "learnable" asset.
If you look at how the mammalian brain processes data, it's rather slow, but it's massively parallel and it doesn't work on instruction-based rules. Plus, no two brains are alike, not even in identical twins.
Ultimately, it is the environment, as well as the interaction in the environment, that determines how memory works, whether it's episodic or temporal memory. Back at NASA, we held a workshop in the late 1990s with respected neurobiologists to help us understand the advancement in neural science and understanding limitations with artificial intelligence. We also invited experts in the biomedical field to aid in the understanding of the human brain and how the neurobiological principles behind this amazing organ could be used to enable a revolutionary approach to embedded software systems.
Our excitement grew as we began to imagine the possibilities. Take the example of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Instead of writing software code to control the various onboard processes, you have something you can train, something that you can port into another UAV once it becomes functional. Rather than being software-driven, you'd have a device that is controlled by an almost intelligent platform. It doesn't have actual emotion, but you can train it, for instance, to "feel" fear by teaching it to avoid certain hazards or dangerous conditions when those situations present themselves. This does not involve reaction to instinct, but it does constitute first-level emotional response -- all without software programming or language.
At NASA, we conducted a number of experiments with robots. If one of the robots lost a sensor, they would ignore it and move to the remaining sensor sets that were still functional, whereas in a deterministic software system the device might go into an endless loop or simply shut down. An example of this is when a person loses one of his or her senses - e.g., sight - and the remaining senses compensate for this loss. This highlights the robust redundancy characteristics and the ability to integrate multiple sensors; it is similar to fuzzy logic but doesn't use rule-based or predetermined processes. The robot is utilizing environmental interaction with the ability to learn and anticipate and take actions on previously stored memories. It has what neurologists call "plasticity": the ability to form connections and reinforce connections based on previous training. The bottom line? The machine's performance is modeling that of the mammalian brain.
Actually, what we are talking about is not even software. It is, at its core, an entirely new engineering discipline, using neurobiological principles as its foundation. A number of academic institutions are advancing this science, including George Mason University, the University of California at Berkeley, Rutgers University, among others. There are also other schools starting to think in terms of formally integrating biology into computer science disciplines. There are even people with PhDs in this field. And the National Science Foundation is exploring the idea of putting university activities together in this area. There is no doubt that a groundswell of support for this discipline is in its nascent stages.
The truth is, programmers cannot keep writing millions of lines of code and expect reliability. The programs are getting too complex, which results in mistakes that simply cannot be caught. All of this represents a "change state" that started when the application of neural nets was instituted -- and it will continue unabated. In fact, it's already here in some forms, as evidenced by the fuzzy logic currently incorporated into the Japanese bullet trains. Further, the European and Asian markets are already well on their way to making substantial human and financial investment in this area -- even more so that the United States, where pockets of resistance still remain.
A Question of Ethics
It's important to note that the ethics of this discipline are not being ignored. The second we started talking about neurobiological principles at NASA, we brought in experts from various related fields to examine the moral concerns that could potentially be raised. Without question, when neurobiological topics are discussed, there is inevitable worry -- and understandably so -- from a segment of the public that wonders whether we should even be venturing into this realm.
To highlight this concern, one should look no further than the case years ago when the U.S. Department of Agriculture was beginning to promote genetically engineered crops. This led to an outcry from the public that began to worry about "mutant tomatoes." And of course, cloning still remains an emotional, hot-button practice that promises significant medical breakthroughs but that raises legitimate ethical conundrums.
Further, experimentation involving animals, even the lowest invertebrate life forms, stir highly charged and visceral reactions. Witness the outcry when university researchers years ago made a computer of neuron cells from rats to control a Microsoft Flight Simulator. Consequently, nothing we had been doing at NASA involved any of these approaches; all work in the area of neurobiology centered on embedding neurobiological principles in electronics -- as opposed to the "wet" or molecular computing that has stirred so much controversy.
Despite the grim prospects for the software industry, shed no tears for its eventual demise. No other industry could provide a product with such a plethora of bugs, errors and malfunctions and still be considered a viable market. (Most people working in science use Linux systems because of their higher degree of reliability.)
Industry Applications
A handful of forward-thinking companies, including Asynchrony Solutions, have been investigating the ways that neurobiology can be applied to practical applications; the possibilities are virtually endless. Take healthcare, for example. Our engineers are researching different ways of displaying data, meaning that doctors will be able to have handheld nomadic mobile computing devices that allow them to get in contact with anyone anywhere -- much like an iPhone. In the defense industry, diverse information from many sources can be brought into the real-time battlefield environment in a multi-modal form that utilizes all the senses of a human operator. This ultimately allows commanders to make split-second tactical and strategic decisions.
Ultimately, the adoption of neurobiology into engineering will help us to open up what a knowledge repository really is supposed to be -- including low-cost, wearable computing visualization capabilities. Our work in this area is still at the proof of principle level, but within a year or two, we're confident that some of these actual devices will be available for use.
In the end, when you start talking about intelligent, brain-based neurobiological principles, you open up a whole new venue in terms of what embedded computing hardware solutions become. You can really start to think about intelligent learning capabilities that go well beyond artificial intelligence and deterministic rule-based systems. In the end, this represents a major change in what software will become over next decade.
Remember: think computers and autonomous robots that have the ability to learn and adapt to their changing environment. This is not a movie -- this is the future.


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Google is not letting on much about the next version of Android, even though it is rumored to be coming to a smartphone by early summer.
More likely, it will be rolled out in the fall, based on comments made by Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice president of engineering for mobile at Google. He spoke with Computerworld at Mobile World Congress here Monday.
"After Android 4 comes 5, and we haven't announced the timing yet, which we're still sorting out," Lockheimer said. "There's a lot of engineering work behind it still, and there's also just the question of how to time it."
Lockheimer added: "In general, the Android release cadence is one major release a year with some maintenance releases that are substantial still." That statement would suggest a fall 2012 time frame for the release of Android 5.0, given that Android 4.0 was released last November, he acknowledged.
Nonetheless, Lockheimer added a caveat: "Having said that, we're flexible. The [timing of releases] is not what drives us, but what does is innovation and offering users a great experience."
New Version of Android's Name Not Dilvulged
Lockheimer wouldn't divulge the dessert name that Android 5.0 will be called, following after Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) for 4.0. Google is already getting suggestions for sweets that begin with the letter "J" for the version of Android coming after 5.0, he said. Earlier versions of the mobile operating system were called Cup Cake 1.5 , Donut (2.0) , Eclair (2.1), Froyo 2.2 , Gingerbread (2.3) and Honeycomb (3.0).
Google is still enjoying the success of Android 4.0, a version that was well-received by developers and users. At MWC, the large Google booth, located in the back corner of a major exhibition hall, was crowded with visitors to dozens of Google partners showing off their ICS-related applications.
One Google partner, Wyse Technologies, uses Android Beam technology to run its NFC software in ICS to initiate file transfers between devices.
Using two Galaxy Nexus phones, Wyse employees placed the first phone near the second to give it permission to access a file kept in the cloud or on a PC. The actual download of the file to the second phone was sent over Wi-Fi, but a 3G or other wireless signal could be used. NFC is too constrained to transfer the actual file, they said.
Lockheimer said Android Beam has led to dozens of other applications, many of them sold in Android Market, including an app that allows two users to share a video by bringing two NFC phones close together, even in mid-stream of a video clip. StumbleUpon demonstrated a similar technology at its booth inside the Google booth.
Lockheimer listed several ICS improvements that have been popular with users, including data-usage and battery-usage meters and widgets on the home screen.
Frustration Over the Arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich on Older Phones
While ICS was center stage at Google's booth, many users have expressed frustration that ICS upgrades have not arrived on devices running older Android versions. Lockheimer acknowledged there is frustration over receiving ICS upgrades in a timely manner, which was why the Android Upgrade Alliance was announced at last year's Google I/O conference. The premise of the group was that phone manufacturers and wireless carriers would provide timely upgrades of devices during their first 18 months on the market.
"The alliance is definitely making a difference," Lockheimer said. "We're making the upgrade process better and are passionate about it. ...There's a lot of progress being made towards making upgrades smoother."
But Lockheimer added that "getting upgrades to users is very complicated. ... By the time you add up all the players, it's a big pipeline, a big assembly line, with lots of parts. Everyone needs to be working in tight coordination."
Lockheimer wouldn't divulge any specific directions for the next version of Android. "Things we will add in the future are around simplicity and power [simultaneously]," he said. "That's an ongoing theme at Google and increasingly so." Those simultaneous directions are meant to satisfy both sophisticated users and beginners to Android, he explained.
"We're proud of our work in the OS, and we want to offer a polished experience [in the future] that's even faster and smoother." he said. "We call that 'butter,' which can take many forms. [Future versions of Android] should run even faster and smoother, and even butter-er," he quipped.
Android was founded on the principle of openness, which means it has been customized by carriers and manufacturers alike, so those groups can provide unique characteristics to differentiate themselves, Lockheimer noted. Google is satisfied that some users want plain vanilla Android on their smartphones and tablets , while carriers, makers and other users want the added layers that provide customization, he added.
"Having both traits [of plain vanilla and highly customized Android phones] is a strength of Android," Lockheimer said. "How did Android get here? It was through openness, and by the way you can customize it. As long you don't mess with its compatibility, you can customize it. That's the secret of our success. [Android makers and carriers] don't all want to do the same thing as one another, and they want to innovate."
At the same time, Lockheimer said Google is well aware that "some users prefer our true Google experience," which is one reason that ICS includes the ability to strip off many apps and functions added by manufacturers and carriers.
"If you prefer plain ICS, you can disable the [added] apps," he said. "Once slice does not fit all. This way you can have your cake and eat it too."
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His email address is firstname.lastname@example.com .
For more blogs, stories, photos, and video from the world's largest mobile show, check out PCWorld's complete coverage of Mobile World Congress 2012.
This story, "Google Exec Hints of Android 5.0 Release This Fall" was originally published by Computerworld.